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LIBRARY 
gftrt&SITY  OF  G&1PQSH2& 
DAVIS  -^ 


THE 

AMERICAN  GARDENER; 

OR, 


On  the  Situation,  Soil,  Fencing-  and  Laying-Out  of 
Gardens  ;  on  the  Making*  and  Managing  of  Hot- 
Beds  and  Green-Houses  ;  and  on  the  Propa- 
gation and   Cultivation  of  the    several 
sorts  of  Vegetables,   Herbs,  Fruits 
and  Flowers. 


BY  WILLIAM  COBBETT. 


"  I  went  by  the  field  of  the  Slothful,  and  by  the  vineyand 
u  of  the  man  void  of  understanding  :  and  lo !  it  was  all 
*«  grown  over  with  thorns,  and  nettles  covered  the  face 
"  thereof,  and  the  stone  wall  thereof  was  broken  down. 
"  Then  I  saw  and  considered  it  well ;  I  looked  upon  it  and 
"  received  instruction."— Proverbs,  chap.  xxiv.  ven  30. 


IBattimort: 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY 

7.  ROBINSON,   CIRCUtATINGXIBRARY,   AND 

J.  ROBINSON  &  Co.  FREDERICK,  Md. 

1823. 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


PREFACE. 


1.  The  proper  uses  of  a  Preface  appear  to 
be,  to  give  the  reader  information,  which  may- 
be useful,  during  the  perusal  of  the  work  to 
which  it  is  prefixed ,  to  explain  the  nature  and 
object  of  the  work  ;  to  point  out  the  method  of 
the  arrangement  of  its  several  parts;  and,  in 
short,  to  afford  the  means  of  due  preparation 
for  the  task  the  reader  is  entering  upon ;  which 
preparation  is  always  a  great  advantage  to  the 
author  as  well  as  to  the  reader. 

2.  As  to  the  nature  of  the  work,  it  is,  I  hope, 
pretty  clearly  stated  in  the  Title  Page.  The 
object  evidently  is  to  cause  the  art  of  gardening 
to  be  better  understood  and  practised  than  it 
now  is  in  America;  and,  very  few  persons  will 
deny,  that  there  is,  in  this  case,  plenty  of  room 
for  improvement.  America  has  il  and  climate 
far  surpassing  those  of  England  ;  and  yet  she  is 
surprisingly  deficient  in  variety  as  well  as  qua- 
lity of  garden  products.  I  am  not  alluding  to 
things  of  ornament,  or  appertaining  to  luxuri- 
ous enjoyments;  but,  to  things  that  are  really 
useful,  and  that  tend  to  profit  and  to  the  pre- 
servation of  health,  without  which  latter,  life 
^s  not  worth  having.  It  is  incredible  to  those, 
who  have  not  had  occasion  to  observe  the  fact, 
how  large  a  part  of  the  sustenance  of  a  coun- 
try-labourer's family,  in  England,  comes  out 
of  his  little  garden.  The  labourers  of  England 
are  distinguished  from  those  of  other  countries 


by  several  striking  peculiarities,  but,  by  no  one 
are  they  so  strongly  distinguished  as  by  their 
fondness  of  their  gardens,  and  by  the  diligence, 
care  and  taste,  which  they  show  in  the  man- 
agement of  them.  The  reproach  which  Solo- 
mon, in  the  words  of  my  motto,  affixes  on  the  sloth- 
ful and  ignorant  husbandman,  they  seem  to  have 
constantly  in  their  minds;  and  to  be  constantly 
on  the  watch  to  prevent  it  from  applying  to 
themselves.  Poverty  may  apologize  for  a  dirty 
dn  ss  or  an  unshaven  face ;  men  may  be  negli- 
gent of  their  persons ;  but  the  sentence  of  the 
wh  ole  nat.on  is,  that  he,  who  is  a  sloven  in  his  gar- 
den, isa  sloven  indeed.  The  inside  of  a  labour- 
er's house,  his  habits,  his  qualities  as  a  workman, 
and  almost  his  morality,  may  be  judged  of  from 
the  appearance  of  his  garden.  If  that  be  neg- 
lected, he  is,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  a  sluggard  or 
a  drunkard,  or  both. 

3.  It  seems,  at  first  sight,  very  odd  that  this 
taste  for  gardening  should  not  have  been  pre- 
served in  America  ;  but,  it  is  accounted  for  by 
reflecting,  that,  where  land  is  abundant,  attach- 
ment and  even  attention  to  small  spots  wear 
away.  To  desire  to  possess  land  is  an  universal 
desire;  and  vanity  makes  us  prefer  quantity  to 
quality.  You  may  prove  as  clearly  as  daylight, 
that  it  is  better,  in  certain  cases,  to  possess  one 
acre  than  a  hundred ;  but  where  do  you  find  the 
man  that  prefers  the  one  acre  ?  When  large 
parcels  of  land  are  undertaken  to  be  cultivated, 
small  ones  are  held  in  contempt  ;  and,  though  a 
good  garden  supplies  so  large  a  part  of  what  is 
consumed  by  a  family,  and  keeps  supplying  it  all 
the   year  round  too,    there  are    many  farmers 


PREFACE,  V 

even  in  England,  who  grudge  even  a  wheelbar- 
row full  of  manure  that  is  bestowed  on  the  gar- 
den. To  remove  this  neglect  as  to  gardening 
in  America  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  work ; 
and,  I  think,  I  shall,  in  the  progress  of  the 
work,  show,  that  the  garden  may,  besides  its 
intrinsic  utility,  be  made  to  be  a  most  valuable 
help-mate  to  the  Farm. 

4.  It  is  impossible  to  write  a  book  that  shall 
exclusively  apply  to  every  particular  case. 
Some  persons  have  need  of  large,  while  others 
want  only  small,  gardens ;  but,  as  to  Situation 
Soil,  and  Fencing,  the  rules  will  apply  to  all  ca- 
ses. Those  who  want  neither  Hot- Beds  nor 
Green- Houses,  may  read  the  part  treating  of 
them,  or  leave  it  unread,  just  as  they  please; 
but,  I  think,  that  it  will  not  require  much  to  be 
said  to  convince  every  American  Farmer,  North 
of  Carolina,  at  least,  that  he  ought  to  have  a 
Hot-Bed  in  the  Spring. 

5.  I  have  divided  the  matters,  treated  of,  thus  : 
The  first  Chapter  treats  of  the  Situation,  Soil, 
Fencing,  and  Laying-out  of  Gardens;  the  second* 
of  the  making  and  managing  of  Hot-beds  and 
Green-Houses ;  the  third,  of  Propagation  and 
Cultivation  generally;  the  three  remainingChap- 
ters  treat  of  the  raising  and  managing  of  the 
several  plants,  each  under  its  particular  name, 
Classed  under  the  heads,  Vegetables,  and  Herbs  ; 
Fruits  ;  Flowers.  In  each  of  these  last  three 
Chapters,  I  have,  in  arranging  my  matter,  foil" 
lowed  the  Alphabetical  Order  of  the  names  o 
the  several  plants,  which  mode  of  arrange- 
ment must  naturally  tend  to  make  the  work  of 

sy.    But,  as  very  frequent  reference 
1* 


VI  PREFACE. 

must  be  necessary,  and,  as  the  utility  of  the 
work  must,  in  some  degree,  depend  on  the  fa- 
cility  with  which  the  several  parts  of  it  can  be 
referred  to,  there  are  two  Indexes  at  the  end, 
one,  of  the  names  of  the  several  plants,  and, 
the  other,  of  the  matters  generally.  For  the 
same  reason,  I  have  numbered  the  paragraphs 
throughout  the  work.  A  more  proper  term 
might  have  been  found  than  that  of  Vegetables, 
seeing,  that,  strictly  speaking,  that  word  ap- 
plies to  all  things  that  grow  from  the  earth. 
But,  as  we  call  those  products  of  the  garden, 
which  we  use,  in  their  natural  shape,  as  human 
food;  as  we  generally  call  these  only  by  the 
name  of  vegetables,  I  have  chosen  that  word 
in  preference  to  one,  which,  though  more  strict- 
ly proper,  would  be  less  generally  understood. 
Nearly  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  word  Herbs, 

6.  Some  persons  may  think,  that  Flowers  are 
things  of  no  use:  that  they  are  nonsensical 
things.  The  same  may  be,  and,  perhaps,  with 
more  reason,  said  of  pictures.  An  Italian,  while 
he  gives  his  fortune  for  a  picture,  will  laugh 
to  scorn  a  Hollander,  who  leaves  a  tulip-root 
as  a  fortune  to  his  son.  For  my  part,  as  a  thing 
to  keep  and  not  to  sell;  as  a  thing,  the  posses- 
sion of  which  is  to  give  me  pleasure,  I  hesitate 
not  a  moment  to  prefer  the  plant  of  a  fine  car- 
nation to  a  gold  watch  set   with  diamonds. 

7.  The  territory  of  the  United  States  includes 
such  a  variety  of  climates ;  degrees  of  heat  and 
cold  so  different  at  the  same  period  of  the  year; 
that  it  is  impossible  to  give  instructions,  as 
relating  to  time,  for  sowing,  planting,  and  so 
forth,  that  shall  be  applicable  to  every  part  of 


PREFACE.  Vil 

the  country.  I,  therefore,  for  the  most  part, 
make  my  directions  applicable  to  seasons,  or 
states  of  the  weather,  rather  than  to  dates. 
When  I  make  no  particular  mention  as  to  times 
of  the  year,  or  month,  it  is  to  be  understood, 
that  I  am  supposing  myself  at,  or  near,  the  City 
of  JVetv  York,  and  that  I  am  speaking  of  what 
ought  to  be  done  there.  With  this  clearly  borne 
in  mind,  the  reader,  who  will  know  the  dif- 
ference in  the  degrees  of  heat  and  cold  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  country,  will  know  how 
to   apply  the  instructions  accordingly. 

8.  Those  persons,  who  perform  their  garden- 
work  themselves,  will  need  no  caution  with  res- 
pect to  men  that  they  employ  as  'Gardeners; 
but,  those  who  employ  Gardeners  ought  by  no 
means  to  leave  them  to  do  as  they  please.  Their 
practical  experience  is  worth  something ;  but, 
if  they  are  generally  found  very  deficient  in 
knowledge  of  their  business  in  England,  what 
must  those  of  them  be  who  come  to  America  ? 
Every  man,  who  can  dig  and  hoe  and  rake,  calls 
himself  a  Gardener  as  soon  as  he  lands  here 
from  England.  This  description  of  persons  are 
generally  handy  men,  and,  having  been  used  to 
spade-work,  they,  from  habit,  do  things  well 
and  neatly.  But  as  to  the  art  of  gardening, 
they  generally  know  nothing  of  it.  I  wished 
to  carry  the  nicer  parts  of  gardening  to  per- 
fection, at  Botley.  I  succeeded.  But  I  took 
care  to  employ  no  man  who  called  himself  a 
gardener.  I  selected  handy  and  clear-headed 
farm-labourers.  They  did  what  I  ordered  them 
to  do  ;  and  offered  me  none  of  their  advice  or 
ofiiniom. 


Vill  PREFACE. 

9  There  is  a  foible  of  human  nature,  which 
greatly  contributes  to  establish  and  perpetuate 
the  power  and  the  mischief  of  pretended  gar- 
deners. Tell  a  gentleman,  that  this  is  wrong, 
or  that  is  wrong,  in  the  management  of  his  gar- 
den, and  he  instantly  and  half-angrily  replies, 
that  his  gardener  is  a  very  skilful  man.  "  That 
may  be,"  said  I  once  to  a  friend,  who,  at  an  enor- 
mous expense,  had  got  two  or  three  poor  little 
melons,  while  I  at  hardly  any  expense  at  all, 
had  large  quantities  of  very  fine  ones  :  "  That 
may  be/'  said  I,  "  for  skill  may  consist  in  getting 
"you  to  expend  your  money  without  getting  you 
"  any  fruit."  The  truth  is,  however,  that  it  is 
not  a  desire  to  be  deceived,  that  produces  this 
species  of  perverseness  :  it  is  a  desire  not  to  be 
thought  foolish.  The  gentleman  has  chosen  the 
gardener;  and,  the  reason  why  he  stickles  for 
him  is,  that,  if  he  allow  the  gardener  to  be  a 
bad  one,  he  himself  has  made  a  bad  choice  ; 
and  that  would  be  an  imputation  on  his  under- 
standings rather  than  allow  which  to  be  just  he 
will  cheerfully  bleed  from  his  purse  pretty 
freely. 

10.  The  best  security  against  the  effects  of 
this  foible  of  human  nature,  is  for  the  owner  of 
the  garden  to  be  head  gardener  himself ;  and,  I 
hope  that  this  work  may  assist  in  rendering  this 
office  easy  and  pleasant.  But,  to  perform  the 
office  well,  the  owner  must  be  diligent  as  well 
as  skilful.  He  must  look  forward.  It  is  a  very 
good  way  to  look  attentively  at  every  part  of  the 
garden  every  Saturday,  and  to  write  down  some, 
at  least,  of  the  things  to  be  done  during  the 
next  week.    This  tends  to  prevent  those  omis- 


PREFACE.  IX 

szons,  which,  when  they  have  once  taken  place, 
are  not  easily  compensated  for.  Seasons  wait 
for  no  man.  Nature  makes  us  her  offers  freely ; 
but  she  will  be  taken  at  her  word.    . 

11.  I  cannot  help,  in  conclusion  of  this  pre- 
face, expressing  my  hope,  that  this  work  may 
tend  to  the  increasing,  in  some  degree,  of  a 
taste  for  gardening  in  America.  It  is  a  source 
of  much  greater  profit  than  is  generally  ima- 
gined ;  and,  merely  as  an  amusement,  or  recre- 
ation, it  is  one  of  the  most  rational  and  most 
conducive  to  health.  It  is  a  pursuit,  not  only 
compatible  with,  but  favourable  to,  the  study  of 
any  art  or  science.  It  tends  to  turn  the  minds  of 
youth  from  amusements  and  attachments  of  a 
frivolous  or  vicious  nature.  It  is  indulged  at 
home.  It  tends  to  make  home  pleasant ;  and  to 
endear  to  us  the  spot  on  which  it  is  our  lot  to 
live. 

Wm.  COBBETT, 

North  Hampsteady  Long  Island,  1819. 


CHAPTER  L 

Qn  the  Situation,  Soil,  Fencing,  and  Laying-out 
of  Gardens, 

SITUATION. 

12.  Those  who  have  gardens  already  formed 
and  planted,  have,  of  course,  not  the  situation  to 
choose.  But,  I  am  to  suppose,  that  new  gardens 
will,  in  a  country  like  this,  be  continually  to  be 
formed ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  an  essential  part  of 
my  duty  to  point  out  what  situations  are  best,  as 
well  with  respect  to  the  aspect  as  to  the  other  cir- 
cumstances. 

13.  The  ground  should  be  as  nearly  on  a  level 
as  possible  ;  because,  if  the  slope  be  considerable, 
the  heavy  rains  do  great  injury,  by  washing  away 
the  soil.  However,  it  is  not  always  in  our  power 
to  choose  a  level  spot ;  but,  if  there  be  a  slope  in 
the  ground,  it  ought,  if  possible,  to  be  towards 
the  South.  For,  though  such  a  direction  adds  to 
the  heat  in  summer,  this  is  more  than  coun 
terbalanced  by  the  earliness  which  it  causes  in  the 
spring.  By  all  means  avoid  an  inclination  to- 
wards the  North,  or  West,  and  towards  any  of 
the  points  between  North  and  West.  After  all, 
it  may  not  be  in  our  power  to  have  a  level  spot, 
nor  even  a  spot  nearly  level ;  and  then  we  must 
do  our  best  with  what  we  have. 

14.  I  am  speaking  here  solely  of  a  Kitchen- 
garden.    Of  ornamental  Gardening  I  shall  speak 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  11 

a  little  in  the  Chapter  on  Flowers.  From  a 
Kitchen-Garden  all  large  trees  ought  to  be  kept  at 
a  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  yards.  For  the  shade 
of  them  is  injurious,  and  their  roots  a  great  deal 
more  injurious,  to  every  plant  growing  within  the 
influence  of  those  roots.  It  is  a  common  but  very 
erroneous  notion,  in  England,  that  the  trees, 
which  grow  in  the  hedges  that  divide  the  fields, 
do  injury  by  their  shade  only.  I  had  a  field  of 
transplanted  Ruta  Baga,  in  the  hedge  on.  the 
North  West  side  of  which  there  were  five  large 
spreading  oak-trees,  at  some  distance  from  each 
other.  Opposite  each  of  these  trees,  which  could 
not  shade  the  Ruta  Baga  much,  there  was  a  piece 
of  the  Ruta  Baga,  in  nearly  a  semi-circular  form, 
in  which  the  plants  never  grew  to  any  size, 
though  those  in  all  the  rest  of  the  field  were  so 
fine  as  to  draw  people  from  a  great  distance  to 
look  at  them.  One  gentleman,  who  came  out  of 
Sussex,  and  who  had  been  a  farmer  all  his  life- 
time, was  struck  with  the  sight  of  these  semi- 
circles ;  and,  looking  over  the  hedge,  into  a  field 
of  wheat,  which  had  a  ditch  between  it  and  the 
hedge,  and  seeing  that  the  wheat,  though  shaded 
by  the  trees,  was  very  little  affected  by  them,  he 
discovered,  that  it  was  the  roots  and  not  the 
branches  that  produced  the  mischief.  The  ditch, 
which  had  been  for  ages  in  the  same  place,  had 
prevented  the  roots  of  the  trees  from  going  into 
the  field  where  the  wheat  was  growing.  The 
ground  where  the  Ruta  Baga  was  growing  had 
been  well  ploughed  and  manured;  and  the  plants 
had  not  been  in  the  ground  more  than  three 
months;  yet,  such  was  the  power  of  the  roots  of 
the  trees,  and  so  quickly  did  it  operate,  that  it 


12  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

almost  wholly  destroyed  the  Ruta  Baga  that 
stood  within  its  reach.  Grass,  which  matts  the 
ground  all  over  with  its  roots,  and  does  not  de- 
mand much  food  from  any  depth,  does  not  suffer 
much  from  the  roots  of  trees ;  but,  every  other 
plant  does.  A  Kitchen  Garden  should,  there- 
fore, have  no  large  trees  near  it.  In  the  spring 
and  fall  tall  trees  do  great  harm  even  by  their 
shade,  which  robs  the  garden  of  the  early  and  the 
parting  rays  of  the  sun.  It  is  therefore,  on  all 
accounts,  desirable  to  keep  all  such  trees  at  a  dis- 
tance. 

15.  If  it  be  practicable,  without  sacrificing  too 
much  in  other  respects,  to  make  a  garden  near  to 
running  water,  and  especially  to  water  that  may 
be  turned  into  the  garden,  the  advantage  ought 
to  be  profited  of ;  but  as  to  watering  with  a  wa- 
tering pot,  it  is  seldom  of  much  use,  and  it  can- 
not be  practised  upon  a  large  scale.  It  is  better 
to  trust  to  judicious  tillage  and  to  the  dews  and 
rains.  The  moisture  which  these  do  not  supply 
cannot  be  furnished,  to  any  extent,  by  the  water- 
ing-pot. A  man  will  raise  more  moisture,  with 
a  hoe  or  a  spade,  in  a  day,  than  he  can  pour  on 
the  earth   out  of  a  watering-pot  in  a  month. 

SOIL. 

16.  The  plants,  which  grow  in  a  garden,  pre- 
fer, like  most  other  plants,  the  best  soil  that  is 
to  be  found.  The  best  is,  loam  of  several  feet 
deep  with  a  bed  of  lime-stone,  sand-stone,  or 
9and,  below.  But,  we  must  take  what  wet/ind  or, 
rather  what  we  happen  to  have.  If  we  have  a 
choice,  we  ought  to  take  that  which  comes  near- 
est to  perfection,  and,  if  we  possibly   can,  we 


AMERICAN  GARDENER,  13 

ought  to  reject  clay  and  gravel,  not  only  as  a 
top-soil,  but  as  a  bottom  soil,  however  great 
their  distance  from  the  surface.  See  paragraph 
109. 

17.  Oak-trees  love  clay,  and  the  finest  and 
heaviest  wheat  grows  in  land  with  a  bottom  of 
clay  ;  but  if  there  be  clay  within  even  six  feet  of 
the  surface,  there  will  be  a  coldness  in  the  land, 
which  will,  in  spite  of  all  you  can  do,,  keep  your 
spring  crops  a  week  or  ten  days  behind  those 
upon  land  which  has  not  a  bottom  of  clay.  Gravel 
is  warm,  and,  it  would  be  very  desirable,  if  you 
could  exchange  it  for  some  other  early  in  June; 
but,  since  you  cannot  do  this,  you  must  submit, 
to  be  burnt  up  in  summer,  if  you  have  the  be- 
nefit of  a  gravelly  bottom  in  the  spring. 

18.  If  the  land,  where  you  like  to  have  a 
garden,  has  rock?,  great  or  small,  they,  of  course, 
are  to  be  carried  off;  but,  if  you  have  a  stony 
soil,  that  is  to  say,  little  short  of  gravel  to  the 
very  surface,  and,  if  you  can  get  no  other  spot, 
you  must  e'en  hammer  your  tools  to  pieces 
amongst  the  stones  ;  for  it  has  been  amply  proved 
by  experience,  that,  to  carry  away  stones  of  the 
font  or  gravel  kind  impoverishes  the  land~ 
However,  we  are  not  to  frame  out  plans  upon 
the  supposition  of  meeting  with  obstacles  of  this 
extraordinary  nature.  We  are  not  to  suppose, 
that,  in  a  country  where  men  have  had  to  choose, 
and  have  still  to  choose,  they  will  have  built,  and 
yet  will  build,  their  houses  on  spots  peculiarly 
steril.  We  must  suppose  the  contrary,  and, 
upon  that   supposition  we  ought  to  proceed. 

19.  Having  fixed  upon  the  spot  for  the  garden, 
the    next  thing  is  to  firefiare  the  ground.    This 

2 


14  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

may  be  done  by  ploughing  and  harrowing,  until 
the  ground  at  top,  be  perfectly  clean  ;  and  then 
by  double  ploughing :  that  is  to  say,  by  going* 
with  a  strong  plough  that  turns  a  large  furrow 
and  turns  it  cleanly,  twice  in  the  same  place,  and 
thus  moving  the  ground  to  the  depth  of  fourteen 
or  sixteen  inches,  for,  the  advantage  of  deeply 
moving  the  ground  is  very  great  indeed.  When 
this  has  been  done  in  one  direction  it  ought  to 
be  done  across,  and  then  the  ground  will  have 
been  well  and  truly  moved.  The  ploughing 
ought  to  be  done  with  four  oxen,  and  the  plough 
ought  to  be  held  by  a  strong  and  careful  plough- 
man. 

20.  This  is  as  much  as  I  shall,  probably>  be 
able  to  persuade  any  body  to  do  in  the  way  of 
preparing  the  ground.  But,  this  is  not  all  that 
ought  to  be  done  ;  and  it  is  proper  to  give  di- 
rections for  the  best  way  of  doing  this  and  every- 
thing else.  The  best  way  is,  then,  to  trench  the 
ground;  which  is  performed  in  this  manner. 
At  one  end  of  the  piece  of  ground,  intended  for 
the  garden,  you  make,  with  a  spade,  a  trench, 
all  along,  two  feet  wide  and  two  feet  deep.  You 
throw  the  earth  out  on  the  side  away  from  the 
garden  that  is  to  be.  You  shovel  out  the  bottom 
clean,  and  make  the  sides  of  the  trench  as  nearly 
perpendicular  as  possible.  Thus  you  have  a 
clean  open  trench,  running,  all  along  one  end  of 
your  garden-ground.  You  then  take  another 
piece,  all  along,  two  feet  wide,  and  put  the  earth 
that  this  new  piece  contains  into  the  trench, 
taking  off  the  top  of  the  new  two  feet  wide,  and 
turning  that  top  down  into  the  bottom  of  the 
trench,  and  then  taking  the  remainder  of  the 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  15 

earth  of  the  new  two  feet,  and  placing  it  on  the 
top;of  the  earth  just  turned  into  the  bottom  of 
the  trench.  Thus,  when  you  have  again  sho- 
velled out  the  bottom,  and  put  it  on  the  top  of 
the  whole  that  you  have  put  into  the  trench,  you 
have  another  clean  trench  two  feet  wide  and  two 
deep.  You  thus  proceed,  till  the  whole  of  your 
garden-ground  be  trenched:  and  then  it  will 
have  been  cleanly  turned  over  to  the  de/ith  of  two 
feet, 

21.  As  to  the  expense  of  this  preparatory 
operation,  a  man  that  knows  how  to  use  a  spade, 
will  trench  four  rod  in  a  day  very  easily  in  the 
month  of  October,  or  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber if  the  ground  be  not  frozen.  Supposing  the 
garden  to  contain  an  acre,  and  the  labourer  to 
earn  a  dollar  a  day,  the  cost  of  this  operation 
•will,  of  course,  be  forty  dollars;  which,  per* 
haps,  would  be  twenty  dollars  above  the  expense 
of  the  various  ploughings  and  harrowings,  ne- 
cessary in  the  other  way  ;  but,  the  difference  in4 
the  value  of  the  two  operations  is  beyond  all 
calculation.  There  is  no  point  of  greater  im- 
portance than  this.  Poor  ground  deeply  moved 
is  preferable,  in  many  cases,  to  rich  ground 
with  shallow  tillage ;  and  when  the  ground  has 
been  deeply  moved  once,  it  feels  the  benefit  for 
ever  after.  A  garden  is  made  to  last  for  ages ; 
what,  then,  in  such  a  case,  is  the  amount  of 
twenty  dollars  ?  It  is  well  known  to  all  who 
have  had  experience  on  the  subject,  that  of  two 
plants  of  almost  any  kind  that  stand  for  the 
space  of  three  months  in  top  soil  of  the  same 
quality,  one  being  on  ground  deeply  moved,  and 
the  other  on  ground  moved  no  deeper  than  is 


16  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

usual,  the  former  will  exceed  the  latter  one  half 
in  bulk.  And,  as  to  trees  of  ail  descriptions, 
from  the  pear-tree  down  to  the  current-bush,  the 
difference  is  so  great,  that  there  is  room  for  no 
comparison.  It  is  a  notion  with  some  persons, 
that  it  is  of  no  use  to  move  the  ground  deeper 
than  the  roots  of  the  plant  penetrate.  But,  in 
the  first  place,  the  roots  go  much  deeper  than 
we  generally  suppose..  When  we  pull  up  a  cab- 
bage, for  instance,  we  see  no  roots  more  than  a 
foot  long ;  but,  if  we  were  carefully  to  pursue 
the  roots  to  their  utmost  point,  even  as  far  as 
our  eye  would  assist  us,  we  should  find  the 
roots  a  great  deal  longer,  and  the  extremities  of 
the  roots  are  much  too  fine  to  be  seen  by  the  naked 
eye.  Upon  pulling  up  a  common  turnip,  who 
would  imagine,  that  the  side,  or  horizontal 
roots  extend  to  several  feet  ?  Yet  I  have  traced 
them  to  the  length  of  four  feet ;  and  Mr.  Tull 
proved,  that  they  extended  to  six  feet ,  though 
he  could  not  see  them  to  that  extent  with  his 
naked  eye.  But,  though  the  roots  should  not  ex- 
tend nearly  to  the  bottom  of  the  moved  ground, 
the  plants  are  affected  by  the  unmoved  ground 
being  near  at  hand.  If  this  were  not  the  case, 
plants  with  very  short  roots  might  be  cultivated 
on  a  brick  pavement  with  earth  laid  upon  it  to 
the  thickness  of  a  foot;  and  yet,  no  plant  will 
live  and  thrive  in  such  a  state,  while  it  will  do 
very  well  in  ground  along  side  the  pavement, 
though  moved  only  a  foot  deep.  Plants  require 
a  communication  with,  and  an  assistance  from, 
beneath  as  well  as  from  above,  in  order  to  give 
them  vigour  and  fecundity.  Plants  will  live  and 
will  grow  to  a  certain   extent .  in  earthen  fiotsf 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  17 

or  in  boxes  made  of  wood ;  but,  there  must  be 
holes  in  the  bottom  of  both,  or  the  plants  will 
die.     See  paragraphs'  108  and  109. 

22.  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, that  the  ground  be  moved  to  a  good  depth, 
and,  he  who  is  about  to  make  a  garden  should 
remember,  that  he  is  about  to  do  that,  the  effects 
of  which  are  to  be  felt  for  ages.  There  is,  however, 
one  objection  to  trenching  in  certain  cases.  The 
soil  may  not  only  not  be  good  to  the  depth  of  two 
feet,  but  it  may  be  bad  long  before  you  come  to 
that  depth  ;  and,  in  this  case,  the  trenching,  in 
putting  the  good  soil  at  bottom,  might  bring  a 
hungry  sand,  or  even  a  gravel  or  clay  to  the  top, 
which  must  not  be  done  by  any  means ;  for,  even 
in  the  case  of  trees,  they  would  perish,  or  become 
stunted,  because  their  roots  would  not  find  their 
way  from  the  bad  soil  to  the  good.  In  such  cases 
the  top  soil  must,  in  the  trenching,  be  kept  at  the 
top,  ;  and,  in  order  to  effect  this,  your  mode  of 
proceeding,  in  the  trenching,  must  be  somewhat 
different  from  that  described  in  paragraph  20. 

23.  Your  first  trench  must  be  opened  in  the 
manner  described  in  that  paragraph ;  but  you 
must  not  then  proceed  to  turn  the  top  of  the  next 
two  feet  into  the  bottom  of  the  trench.  Let  us  sup- 
pose, now,  that  you  have  your  first  trench,  two 
feet  wide  as  before  directed,  open  and  clean. 
This  being  the  case,  take  a  foot  deep  of  the  next 
two  feet  all  the  way  along,  and,  for  this  once,, 
throw  it  over  the  open  trench  to  add  to  the  earth 
that  you  have  already  thrown  out  of  that  trench. 
Then  you  will  have  the  bottom  foot  of  earth  left. 
Dig  out  this  and  turn  it  into  the  bottom  of  your 
open  trench,  and  then  the  first  trench  will  be  half 

9* 


18v  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

filled  up,  and  you  will  have  got  your  second 
trench  open.  Then  go  to  a  new  two  feet  wide, 
that  is  the  third  two  feet.  Take  the  top  foot  deep 
©ft*  from  this,  and  throw  it  on  the  £0/2  of  the  earth 
that  you  have  just  turned  into  the  first  trench  ; 
and  then,  where  that  first  trench  was  there  will  be 
earth  two  feet  deep ;  the  bad  soil  at  bottom  and 
the  good  soil  at  top.  Then  you  go  on  regularly. 
The  bottom  foot  of  the  fourth  two-feet  wide  piece 
you  turn  into  the  bottom  of  the  second  trench, 
and  the  top  foot  of  the  third  two  feet  wide  piece 
you  throw  on  the  top  of  the  earth  which  is  at  the 
bottom  of  the  second  trench.  And,  thus,  when 
you  have  done,  you  will  have  moved  all  your 
ground  two  feet  deep,  and  will  have  tlve  bad  soil 
at  bottom  and  the  good  at  top. 

24.  At  theend  of  your  work,  you  will,  of  course, 
have  an  open  trench  and  a  half;  and  this  must  be 
filled  up  by  carrying  the  earth,  which  came  out 
of  tlve  first  trench,  round  in  a  cart  or  wheel-bar- 
row, and  putting  it  into  the  space  that  you  will 
have  open  at  last.  For  trees  and  Asparagus,  you 
ought  to  do  still  more.  See  Asparagus,  in  Chap- 
ter IV. 

25.  It  must  be  observed,  however,  that,  though 
the  soil  be  good  in  its  nature  down  to  two  feet 
deep,  that  which  comes  to  the  top  in  the  first 
mode  of  trenching,  will  not  be,  immediately,  so 
good  for  use,  as  the  soil  which  has  been  at  top 
for  ages.  It  is,  in  such  a  case,  of  great  advan- 
tage to  place  the  old  top  soil  at  the  bottom  ; 
because  when  roots  find  the  soil  good  to  such  a 
depth,  the  plants  and  trees  thrive  and  bear  sur- 
prisingly. But,  then,  the  new  top  soil  must  be 
exceedingly  well  worked  and  well  and  judiciously 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  19 

manured,  in  order  to  make  it  equal  to  the  old  top 
soil ;  which  object  is,  however,  very  soon  ac- 
complished, if  the  proper  means  be  made  use 
of. 

26.  The  ground  being  trenched,  in  October, 
ought  to  be  well" manured  at  top  with  good  well- 
rotted  dung,  or  with  soap-boiler' *s  ashes ,  or  some 
other  good  manure  ;  and  this  might  be  ploughed, 
or  dug,  in  shallowly.  Before  the  frost  is  gone  in 
the  spring,  another  good  coat  of  manure  should 
vbe  put  on  ;  well-rotted  manure  from  the  yard ; 
ashes ;  or,  rather,  if  ready,  from  a  g&od  com- 
-host.  Then,  when  the  frost  is  gone,  the  ground 
will  be  instantly  lit  for  digging  and  planting ;  and, 
it  will  bear  almost  any  thing  that  can  be  put 
into  it. 

27.  Thus  will  the  ground  be  prepared;  and  here 
I  close  my  directions  with  regard  to  the  nature 
and  preparation  of  the  soil.  But,  it  seems  ne- 
cessary to  add  a  few  words  on  the  subject  of  ma- 
nures as  adapted  to  a  garden.  It  is  generally 
thought,  and,  I  believe,  truly,  that  dung,  of  any 
sort,  is  not  what  ought  to  be  used  in  the  raising 
of  garden  vegetables.  It  is  very  certain,  that 
they  are  coarse  and  gross  when  produced  with  aid 
of  that  sort  of  manure,  compared  to  what  they 
are  when  raised  with  the  aid  of  ashes,  lime,  rags, 
and  composts.  And,  besides,  dung,  in  hot  soils 
and  hot  climates,  adds  to  the  heat;  while  ashes, 
lime,  rags  and  composts  do  not;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  they  attract,  and  cause  the  earth  to 
retain,  moisture. 

28.  All  the  ground  in  a  garden  ought  always 
to  be  good ;  and  it  will  be  kept  in  this  state  if  it 
be  well  manured  once  every  year.  Perhaps  it  will 


20  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

scarcely  ever  be  convenient  to  any  one  to  ma- 
nure the -whole  garden  at  one  time;  and  this  is 
not  of  so  much  importance.  Clay,  or  any  earth, 
burnt,  is  excellent  manure  for  a  garden.  It  has 
no  seeds  of  weeds  or  grass  in  it.  A  compost, 
made  of  such  ashes,  some  wood-ashes,  a  small 
.  portion  of  horse-dung,  rotten  leaves,  and  mould 
shovelled  up  under  trees,  round  buildings,  or  on 
the  sides  of  roads.  All  these  together,  put  into 
a  heap,  and  turned  over  several  times,  make  the 
best  manure  for  a  garden. 

29.  A  great  deal  more  is  done  by  the  fermen- 
tation of  manures  than  people  generally  ima- 
gine. In  the  month  of  June  take  twenty  cart 
loads  of  earth,  which  has  been  shovelled  off  the 
surface  of  a  grassy  lane,  or  by  a  road  side,  or 
round  about  barns,  stables,  and  the  like.  Lay 
these  twenty  loads  about  a  foot  thick  on  some 
convenient  spot.  Go  and  cut  up  twenty  good 
cart-loads  of  weeds  of  any  sort,  and  lay  these 
well  shaken  up,  on  the  earth.  Then  cover  the 
weeds  with  twenty  more  cart-loads  of  earth  like 
the  former,  throwing  the  earth  on  lightly.  In 
three  days  you  will  see  the  heap  smoke  as  if  on 
fire.  If  you  put  your  hand  into  the  earth,  you 
will  find  it  too  hot  to  be  endured.  In  a  few 
days  the  heat  will  decline,  and  you  will  perceive 
the  heap  sink.  Let  it  remain  a  week  after  this, 
and  then  turn  it  very  carefully.  This  will  mix 
the  whole  well  together.  You  will  find  the 
weeds  and  grass  in  a  putrid  state.  Another 
heating  will  take  place,  but  less  furious  than  the 
former.  Turn  it  a  second  time  in  seven  days; 
and  a  third  time  in  seven  days  more.  And 
by  this  time  you  will   have  forty   cart  loads  of 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  21 

manure,  equal  in  strength  to  twenty  of  yard 
dung,  and  a  vast  deal  better  for  a  garden,  or, 
indeed,  for  any  other  land.  It  is  not  expensive 
to  obtain  this  sort  of  manure ;  and  such  a  heap, 
or  part  of  such  a  heap,  might  at  all  times  be 
ready  for  the  use  of  the  garden.  When  such  a 
heap  were  once  formed,  some  ashes,  fish-shells 
or  bones  reduced  to  powder,  or  other  enlivening 
matter,  might  be  added  to  it,  and  mixed  well  with 
it ;  and  thus  would  a  store  be  always  at  hand  for 
any  part  of  the  garden  that  might  want  it. 

FENCING. 

SO.  Here,  as  in  the  case  of  Situation,  I  am 
supposing  the  garden  about  to  be  made.  Those 
who  already  have  gardens,  have  fences.  They 
may  improve  them,  indeed,  upon  my  plan  ;  but, 
I  am  supposing  the  case  of  a  new  garden  ;  and, 
I  am  also  supposing  a  garden  to  be  made  in 
what  I  deem  perfection.  Those  who  cannot, 
from  whatever  circumstance,  attain  to  this  per- 
fection, may,-  nevertheless,  profit  from  these  in- 
structions as  far  as  circumstances  will  allow. 

31.  The  fence  of  a  garden. is  an  important 
matter ;  for,  we  have  to  .view  it  not  only  as 
giving  protection  against  intruders,  two-legged  as 
well  as  four-legged,  but  as  affording  shelter  in 
cold  weather  and  shade  in  hot,  in  both  which 
respects  a  fence  may  be  made  of  great  utility 
in  an  American  Garden,  where  cold  and  heat 
are  experienced  in  an  extreme  degree. 

32.  In  England  the  kitchen-gardens  of  gen- 
tlemen are  enclosed  with  walls  from  ten  to  six- 
teen feet  high  ;  but  this,  though  it  is  useful,  and 
indeed    necessary,    in    the   way    of   protection 


22  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

against  two-legged  intruders,  is  intended  chiefly 
to  afford  the  means  of  raising  the  fruit  of  Peaches  > 
Nectarines,  Afiricots,  and  Vines,  which  cannot, 
in  England,  be  brought  to  perfection  without 
walls  to  train  them  against;  for,  though  the 
trees  will  all  grow  very  well,  and  though  a  small 
sort  of  Apricots  will  sometimes  ripen  their  fruit 
away  from  a  wall,  these  fruits  cannot,  to  any 
extent,  be  obtained,  in  England,  nor  the  Peaches 
and  Nectarines,  even  in  France,  north  of  the 
middle  of  that  country,  without  the  aid  of  walls. 
Hence,  in  England,  Peaches,  Nectarines,  Apri* 
cots,  and  Grapes  are  called  Wall-Fruit,  Cher- 
ries, Plums,  and  Pears,  are  also  very  frequently 
placed  against  walls ;  and  they  are  always  the 
finer  for  it ;  but,  a  wall  is  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  the  four  former. 

33.  In  America  a  fence  is  not  wanted  for  this 
purpose ;  but  it  is  very  necessary  for  protection  ,* 
for  shelter  ;  and  for  shade.  As  to  the  first,  garden- 
ers may  scold  as  long  as  they  please,  and  law- 
makers may  enact  aslong  as  they  please,  mankind 
never  will  look  upon  taking  fruit  in  an  orchard  or 
a  garden  as  felony  nor  even  as  trespass.  Besides, 
there  are,  in  all  countries,  such  things  as  boys  ; 
and  every  man  remembers,  if  he  be  not  very  for- 
getful, that  he  himself  was  once  a  boy.  So  that, 
if  you  have  a  mind  to  have  for  your  own  use  what 
you  grow  in  your  garden,  the  only  effectual 
security  is  an  insurmountable  fence.  This  pre- 
vents the  existence  of  temptation,  in  all  cases 
dangerous,  and  particularly  in  that  of  forbidden 
fruit;  therefore  the  matter  reduces  itself  to  this 
very  simple  alternative :  share  the  produce  of 
your  garden  good-humouredly  with  the  boys  of 


AMERICAN  GARDEN  XR.  23 

the  whole  neighbourhood ;  or,  keep  it  for  your 
own  use  by  a  fence  which  they  cannot  get 
through,  under,  or  over.  Such  a  fence,  however, 
it  is  no  trifling  matter  to  make.  It  must  be 
pretty  high ;  and  must  present  some  formidable 
obstacles  besides  its  height. 

34.  With  regard  to  the  second  point;  the 
shelter  ;  this  is  of  great  consequence ;  for,  it  is 
very  well  known  that,  on  the  south  side  of  a 
good  high  fence,  you  can  have  peas,  lettuce, 
radishes,  and  many  other  things,  full  ten  days 
earlier  in  the  spring,  than  you  can  have  them  in 
the  unsheltered  ground.  Indeed,  this  is  a  capi- 
tal consideration ;  for  you  have,  by  this  means, 
ten  days  more  ef  spring  than  you  could  have 
without  it. 

35.  The  shade j  during  the  summer,  is  also 
valuatle.  Peas  will  thrive  in  the  shade  long 
after  ihey  will  no  longer  produce  in  the  sun. 
Currant  trees  and  Goosberry  trees  will  not  do 
well  in  this  climate  unless  they  be  in  the  shade. 
Raspberries  also  are  best  in  the  shade ;  and, 
during  the  heat  of  summer,  lettuce,  radishes, 
and  many  other  things  thrive  best  in  the  shade. 

36.  ft  will  be  seen  presently,  when  I  come  to 
speak  of  the /or  jw  of  a  garden,  that  I  have  fixed 
on  an  Oblong  Square,  twice  as  long  as  it  is 
wide.  This  gives  me  a  long  fence  on  the  North 
side  and  also  on  the  South  side.  The  former  gives 
me  a  fine,  warm  extensive  border  in  the  spring, 
and  the  latter  a  border  equally  extensive  and  as 
cool  as  I  can  get  it,  in  the  heat  of  summer.  Of 
the  various  benefits  of  this  shelter  and  this  shade 
I  shall,  oii  course,  speak  fully,  when  I  come  to 
treat  of  t^e   cultivation  of  the  several  plants  * 


24  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

At  present  I  shall  confine  myself  to  the  sort  of 
fence  that  I  would  recommend. 

37.  I  am  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  over- 
coming long  habit,  and  of  introducing  any  thing 
that  is  new.  Yet,  amongst  a  sensible  people, 
such  as  those,  for  whose  use  this  work  is  intended, 
one  need  not  be  afraid  of  ultimate  success ;  and 
I,  above  all  men,  ought  not  to  entertain  such 
fear,  after  what  I  have  seen  with  regard  to  the 
Ruta  Baga.  The  people  of  this  country  listen 
patiently;  and,  if  they  be  not  in  haste  to  decide, 
they  generally  decide  wisely  at  last.  Besides,  it 
is  obvious  to  every  one,  that  the  lands,  in  the 
populous  parts  of  the  country,  must  be  provided 
with  a  different  sort  of  fence  from  that  which  is 
now  in  use  ;  or,  that  they  must  be,  in  a  few 
years,  suffered  to  lay  waste. 

38.  Yet,  with  all  these  circumstances  Li  my 
favour,  I  proceed  with  faultering  accent  tc  pro- 
pose, even  for  a  garden,  a  live  fence,  especially 
when  I  have  to  notice,  that  I  know  not  how  to 
get  the  plants,  unless  I,  in  the  outset,  bring  them, 
or  their  seeds,  from  England!  However,  I 
must  suppose  this  difficulty  surmounted;  then 
proceed  to  describe  this  fence  that  I  would  have, 
if  I  could. 

39.  In  England  it  is  called  a  Quick-Set  Hedge. 
The  truth  is,  however,  that  it  ought  rather  to  be 
called  an  Everlasting  Hedge;  for,  it  is  not,  as 
will  be  seen  by-and-by,  so  very  quickly  set ;  or, 
at  least,  so  very  quickly  raised.  If  I  couid  carry 
my  readers  into  Surrey,  in  England,  acd  show 
them  quick-set  hedges,  I  might  stop  hare,  and 
only  provide  the  seeds  or  plants.  But  not  being 
able  to  do  that,  I  must,  as  well  as  I  can,  describe 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  25 

the  thing  on  paper.  The  plants  are  those  of  the 
White  Thorn.  This  thorn  will,  if  it  be  left  to 
grow  singly,  attain  the  bulk  and  height  of  an 
apple-tree.  It  bears  white  flowers  in  great 
abundance,  of  a  very  fragrant  smell,  which  are 
•ucceeded  by  a  little  berry,  which,  when  it  is  ripe 
in  the  fall,  is  of  a  red  colour.  Within  the  red 
pulp  is  a  small  stone  ;  and  this  stone,  being  put 
in  the  ground,  produces  a  plant,  or  tree,  in  the 
same  manner  that  a  cherry-stone  does.  The  red 
berries  are  called  haws  ;  whence  this  thorn  is 
sometimes  called  the  haw-thorn ;  as  in  Gold- 
smith's Deserted  Village.  "  The  haw-thorn 
**  bush,  with  seats  beneath  the  shade."  The 
leaf  is  precisely  like  the  Goosberry  leaf,  only  a 
little  smaller;  the  branches  are  every  where 
armed  with  sharp,  thorns  ;  and  the  wood  is  veiy 
fexible  and  very  tough. 

40.  The  haws  are  sown  in  drills,  like  peas,  and 
they  are  taken  from  that  situation  and  planted 
very  thick  in  rows,  in  a  nursery,  where  they 
stand  a  year,  or  two,  if  not  wanted  the  first 
year.  Then  they  are  ready  to  be  planted  to  be- 
come a  hedge.  In  England  there  are  two  ways 
of  planting  a  hedge,  as  to  position  of  ground. 
One  on  a  banky  with  a  ditch  on  the  side:  the 
other  on  the  level  ground.  The  latter  is  that,  of 
which  I  have  now  to  speak. 

41.  The  ground  for  the  Garden  being  prepared, 
in  the  manner  before  described  under  the  head 
of  Soily  you  take  up  your  quick-set  plants,  prune 
their  roots  to  withki  four  inches  of  the  part  that 
was  at  the  top  of  the  ground ;  or,  in  other  words, 
leave  the  root  but  four  inches  long,  taking  care 
to  cut  away  all  the  Jibresy  for  thev  always  die ; 

3 


26  AMERICAN  GARDENER, 

and  they  do  harm  if  they  be  left.  Make  the 
ground  very  fine  and  nice  all  round  the  edges  of 
the  piece  intended  for  the  garden.  Work  it  well 
■with  a  spade  and  make  it  very  fine,  which  will 
demand  but  very  little  labour.  Then  place  a 
line  along  very  truly  :  for,  mind,  you  are  planting 
for  generations  to  come !  Take  the  spade,  put 
the  edge  of  it  against  the  line ;  drive  it  down 
eight  or  ten  inches  deep  ;  pull  the  eye  of  the 
spade  towards  you,  and  thus  you  make,  all  along 
a  little  open  cut  to  receive  the  roots  of  the  plants, 
which  you  will  then  put  into  the  cut,  very  up- 
right,  and  then  put  the  earth  against  them  with 
your  hand,  taking  care  not  to  plant  them  deeper 
in  the  ground  than  they  stood  before  you  took 
them  up  from  the  nursery.  The  distance  be- 
tween each  plant  is  twelve  inches.  When  this 
line  is  done,  plant  another  line  all  the  way  alotig 
by  the  side  of  it,  and  at  six  inches  from  it,  in 
exactly  the  same  manner;  but,  mind,  in  this  se- 
cond line,  the  plants  are  not  to  stand  opposite  the 
plants  in  the  first  line,  but  opposite  the  middles 
of  the  intervals.  When  both  lines  are  planted, 
tread  gently  between  them  and  also  on  the  out- 
sides  of  them,  and  then  hoe  the  ground  a  little, 
and  leave  it  nice  and  neat. 

42.  This  work  should  be  done  in  the  first  or  se- 
cond week  of  October,  even  though  the  leaves 
should  yet  be  on  the  plants.  For  their  roots  will 
strike  in  this  fine  month,  and  the  plants  will  be 
ready  to  start  off  in  the  spring  in  a  vigorous  man- 
ner. If  you  cannot  do  it  in  the  fall,  do  it  the 
moment  the  ground  is  fit  in  the  spring  ;  because, 
if  you  delay  it  too  long,  the  heat  and  drought 
comes,  and  the  plants  cannot  thrive  so  well. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  07 

43.  In  both  cases  the  plants  must  be  cut  down 
almost  close  to  the  ground.  If  you  plant  in  the 
fall,  cut  them  down  as  soon  as  the  frost  is  out  of 
the  ground  in  the  spring,  and  before  the  buds  be- 
gin to  swell ;  and,  if  you  plant  in  the  spring,  cut 
down  as  soon  as  you  have  planted.  This  opera- 
tion is  of  indispensable  necessity  ;  for,  without  it 
you  will  have  no  hedge.  This  cutting  down  to 
within  half  an  inch  of  the  ground  will  cause  the 
plants  to  send  out  shoots  that  will,  in  good 
ground,  mount  up  to  the  length  of  three  or  four 
feet,  during  the  summer.  But,  you  must  keep 
the  ground  between  them  and  all  about  them  very 
clean  and  frequently  hoed  ;  for  the  quick-sets 
love  good  culture  as  well  as  other  plants. 

44.  Some  people  cut  down  again  the  next 
spring;  but,  this  is  not  the  best  way.  Let  the 
plants  stand  two  summers  and  three  winters,  and 
cut  them  all  close  down  to  the  ground  as  you  can 
in  the  spring,  and  the  shoots  will  come  out  so 
thick  and  so  strong,  that  you  need  never  cut  down 
any  more. 

45.  But,  you  must,  this  year,  begin  to  clip. 
At  Midsummer,  or  rather,  about  the  middle  of 
July,  you  must  clip  off  the  top  a  little  and  the 
sides  near  the  top,  leaving  the  bottom  not  much 
clipped  ;  so  that  the  side  of  the  hedge  may  slope 
like  the  side  of  a  pyramid.  The  hedge  will  shoot 
again  immediately,  and  will  have  shoots  six  inches 
long,  perhaps,  by  October.  Then,  before  win| 
ter,  you  must  clip  it  again,  leaving  some  part  of 
the  new  shoots,  that  is  to  say,  not  cutting  down  to 
your  last  cut,  but  keeping  the  side  always  in  a 
pyramidical  slope,  so  that  the  hedge  may  always 
be  wide  at  bottom  and  sharp  at  the  top.     And 


i>8  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

thus  the  hedge  will  go  on  getting  higher  and 
higher,  and  wider  and  wider  and  wider,  till  you 
have  it  at  the  height  and  thickness  that  you  wish  ; 
and  when  it  arrives  at  that  point,  there  you  may 
keep  it.  Ten  feet  high,  and  Jive  feet  through 
at  bottom,  is  what  I  should  choose  ;  because  then 
I  haye,  fence,  shelter,  and  shade  ;  but,  in  the  way 
offence,  five  feet  high  will  keep  the  boldest  boy 
off  from  trees  loaded  with  line  ripe  peaches,  or 
from  a  patch  of  ripe  water-melons ;  and,  if  it  will 
do  that,  nothing  further  need  be  said  upon  the 
subject !  The  height  is  not  great ;  but,  unless  the 
assailant  have  wings,  he  must  be  content  with 
feasting  his  eyes  ;  for,  if  he  attempt  to  climb  the 
hedge,  his  hands  and  arms  and  legs  are  full  of 
thorns  in  a  moment;  and  he  retreats  as  the  fox 
did  from  the  grapes,  only  with  pain  of  body  in 
addition  to  that  of  a  disappointed  longing.  1I 
really  feel  some  remorse  in  thus  plotting  against 
the  poor  fellows  ;  but,  the  worst  of  it  is,  they  will 
not  be  content  with  fair  play  ;  they  will  have  the 
earliest  in  the  season,  and  the  best  as  long  as  the 
season  lasts:  and,  therefore,  I  must,  however 
reluctantly,  shut  them  out  altogether. 

46.  A  hedge  five  clear  feet  high  may  be  got  in 
six  years  from  the  day  of  planting.  And,  now 
let  us  see  what  it  has  cost  to  get  this  fence  round 
my  proposed  garden,  which,  as  will  be  seen  un- 
der the  next  head,  is  to  be  300  feet  long  and  150 
feet  wide,  and  which  is,  of  course  to  have  900 
feet  length  of  hedge.  The  plants  are  to  be  a  foot 
apart  in  the  line,  and  there  are  to  be  two  lines ; 
consequently,  there  will  be  required  1800  plants-, 
or  suppose  it  to  be  two  thousand.  I  think  it  will 
be  strange  indeed,  if  those  plants  cannot  be  raised 


AMERICAN  GARDENER,  W 

and  sold,  at  two  years  old,  iovtivo  dollars  a  thou 
sand.  I  mean  fine,  stout  plants ;  for,  if  your 
plants  be  poor,  little  slender  things  that  have  never 
been  transplanted,  but  just  pulled  up  out  of  the 
spot  where  they  were  sown,  your  hedge  will  be  a 
year  longer  before  it  come  to  a  fence,  and  will 
never,  without  extraordinary  care,  be  so  good  a 
hedge ;  for,  the  plants  ought  all  to  be  as  nearly 
as  possible  of  equal  size  ;  else  some  get  the  start 
of  others,  subdue  them,  and  keep  them  down,  and 
this  makes  an  uneven  hedge,  with  weak  parts  in 
it.  And,  when  the  plants  are  first  pulled  up  out 
of  the  seed-bed,  they  are  too  small  to  enable  you 
clearly  to  ascertain  this  inequality  of  size.  When 
the  plants  are  taken  out  of  the  seed-bed  and 
transplanted  into  a  nursery ,  they  are  assorted  by 
the  nursery  men,  who  are  used  to  the  business. 
The  strong  ones  arc  transplanted  into  one  place^ 
and  the  weak  ones  into  another  so  that,  when 
they  come  to  be  used  for  a  hedge,  they  are  as 
ready  equalized.  If  you  can  get  plants  three  years 
old  they  are  still  better.  They  will  make  a 
complete  hedge  sooner  ;  but,  iftheybetwo  years 
old,  have  been  transplanted,  and,  are  at  the  bot- 
tom, as  big  as  a  large  goose  quill,  they  are  every 
thing  that  is  required. 

47.  The  cost  of  the  plants  is,  then,  four  dollars. 
The  pruning  of  the  roots  and  the  planting  is 
done,  in  England,  for  about  three  half  fxence  a 
rod;  that  is  to  say,  about  three  cents.  Let  us 
allow  twelve  cents  here.  I  think  I  could  earn  two 
dollars  a  day  at  this  work;  but,  let  us  allow 
enough.  In  900  feet  there  are  54  rod  and  a  few 
feet  over ;  and,  therefore,  the  planting  of  the 
hedge  would  cost  about  seven  dollars.  To 
3* 


30  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

keep  it  clean  from  weeds  would  require  about 
two  days  work  in  a  year  for  five  or  six  years : 
twelve  dollars  more.  To  do  the  necessary  clip- 
ping during  the  same  time,  would  require  about 
thirty  dollars,  if  it  were  done  in  an  extraordinary 
good  manner,  and  with  a  pair  of  Garden  Shears. 
So  that  the  expences  to  get  a  complete  hedge 
round  the  garden  would  be  as  follows  : 


D. 

c. 

Plants 

-       4 

00 

Planting        -     - 

-       7 

00 

Cultivation     - 

12 

00 

Clipping         -    - 

-      30 

00 

Total    -        53       00 

48.  And  thus  are  a  fence,  shelter  and  shade, 
of  everlasting  duration,  for  a  garden,  containing 
an  acre  of  land,  to  be  obtained  for  this  trifling 
sum  !  Of  the  beauty  of  such  a  hedge  it  is  im- 
possible for  any  one,  who  has  not  seen  it,  to  form 
an  idea:  contrasted  with  a  wooden,  or  even  a 
brick  fence  it  is  like  the  land  of  Canaan  compar- 
ed with  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  The  leaf  is  beauti- 
ful in  hue  as  well  as  in  shape.  It  is  one  of  the 
very  earliest  in  the  spring.  It  preserves  its 
bright  green  during  the  summer  heats.  The 
branches  grow  so  thick  and  present  thorns  so 
numerous,  and  those  so  sharp,  as  to  make  the 
fence  wholly  impenetrable.  The  shelter  it  gives 
in  the  early  part  of  spring,  and  the  shade  it  gives 
(on  the  other  side  of  the  garden)  in  the  heat 
of  summer,  are  so  much  more  effectual  than  those 
given  by  wood  or  brick  or  stone  fences,  that 
there  is   no   comparison  between  them.      The 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  31 

Primrose  and  the  Violet,  which  are  the  earliest 
of  all  the  flowers  of  the  fields  in  England,  al- 
ways make  their  first  appearance  tinder  the 
wings  of  the  Kaw-Thorn.  Goldsmith,  in  de- 
scribing female  innocence  and  simplicity,  says : 
"  Sweet  as  primrose  peeps  beneath  the  Thorn." 
This  Haw-Thorn  is  the  favourite  plant  of  Eng- 
land: it  is  seen  as  a  flowering  shrub  in  all  gentle- 
men's pleasure-grounds  ;  it  is  the  constant  orna- 
ment of  paddocks  and  parks;  the  first  appear- 
ance of  its  blossoms  is  hailed  by  old  and  young 
as  the  sign  of  pleasant  weather  ;  its  branches  of 
flowers  are  emphatically  called  "  May,"  because, 
according  to  the  Old  Style,  its  time  of  blooming 
was  about  the  first  of  May,  which  in  England 
is  called  "May  day  ;"  in  short,  take  away  the 
Haw-Thorn,  and  you  take  away  the  greatest 
beauty  of  the  English  fields  and  gardens,  and 
not  a  small  one  from  English  rural   poetry. 

49.  And  why  should  America  not  possess 
this  most  beautiful  and  useful  plant?  She  has 
English  gew-gaws,  English  Play- Actors,  Eng- 
lish Cards  and  English  Dice  and  Billiards; 
English  fooleries  and  English  vices  enough  in  all 
conscience;  and,  why  not  English  Hedges', 
instead  of  post-and-rail  and  board  fences  ?  If, 
instead  of  these  steril-looking  and  cheerless  en- 
closures the  gardens  and  meadows  and  fields,  ia 
ihe  neighbourhood  of  New- York  and  other  ci- 
ties and  towns,  were  divided  by  quick-set  hedg- 
es, what  a  difference  would  the  alteration  make 
in  the  look,  and  in  the  real  value  too,  of  those 
gardens,  meadows  and  fields  ! 

50.  It  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that,  after  you 
have  got  your  hedge  to  the   desired  height,  it 


32  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

must  still  be  kefit  clipped  twice  in  the  summer  , 
and  that,  therefore,  if  the  fence  is  everlasting, 
the  trouble  of  it  is  also  everlasting.  But,  in 
the  first  place,  you  can  have  nothing  good  from 
tire  earth  without  annual  care.  In  the  next 
place,  a  wooden  fence  will  soon  want  nailing 
and  patching  annually,  during  the  years  of  its 
comparatively  short  duration.  And,  lastly, 
what  is  the  annual  expense  of  clipping,  when 
you  have  got  your  hedge  to  its  proper  height 
and  width,  and  when  the  work  may  be  done 
with  a  long-handled  hook  instead  of  a  pair  of 
shears,  which  is  necessary  at  first  ?  In  England 
such  work  is  done  for  a  penny  a  rod,  twice  in 
the  summer.  Allow  three  times  as  much  in 
America,  and  then  the  annual  expense  of  the 
garden  hedge  will  be  less  than  four  dollars  a 
year. 

51.  Thus  then,  at  the  end  of  the  first  twen- 
ty years,  the  hedge  would  have  cost  a  hundred 
and  nine  dollars.  And,  for  ever  after,  it  would 
cost  only  eighty  dollars  in  twenty  yoars.  Now, 
ca  i  a  neat,  hoarded  fence,  if  only  eight  feet 
high,  and  to  last  twenty  years,  be  put  up 
for  less  than  nx  dollars  a  rod  P  I  am  convin- 
ced that  it  cannot ;  and,  then,  here  is  an  ex- 
pense for  every  twenty  years,  of  three  hundred 
and  forty  eight  dollars.  A  Locust  fence,  I  al- 
low, will  last  for  ever ;  but,  then,  what  will 
a  fence  all  of  Locust,  cost  ?  Besides  the  differ- 
ence in  the  look  of  the  thing;  besides  the  vast, 
difference  in  the  nature  and  effect  ,of  the  shelter 
and  the  shade  ;  and  besides,  that,  after  all,  you 
have,  in  the  wooden  fence,  no  effectual  protec- 
tion against  invaders, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  33 

52.  However,  there  is  one  thing,  which 
must  not  be  omitted ;  and  that  is,  that  the  hedge 
will  not  be  a  fence,  or,  at  least,  I  would  not 
look  upon  it  as  such,  until  it  had  been  planted 
sioo  years.  During  these  six  years,  there  must 
be  a  fence  all  round  on  the  outside  of  it,  to  keep 
off  pigs,  sheep  and  cattle  ;  for  as  to  the  two- 
legged  assailants  nothing  will  keep  them  off 
except  a  quick-set  hedge.  If  I  had  to  make  this 
temporary  fence \  it  should  be  a  dead  hedge,  made 
of  split  hickory  rods,  like  those  that  hoops  are 
made  of,  and  with  stakes  of  the  stoutest  parts  of 
the  same  rods,  or  of  oak  saplins,  or  some  such 
things.  The  workmanship,  of  this,  if  I  had  a 
Hampshire  or  Sussex  hedger,  would  not  cost 
me  more  than  six  cents  a  rod;  perhaps,  the  stuff 
Would  not  cost  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  a 
rod;  and  this  fence  would  last,  with  a  little 
mending,  as  long  as  I  should  want  it.  But,-*as 
few  good  hedgers  come  from  England,  and  as 
those  who  do  come  appear  to  think,  that  they* 
have  done  enough  of  hedging  in  their  own  coun- 
try, or,  if  they  be  set  to  hedging  here,  seem  to 
look  upon  themselves  as  a  sort  of  conjurors  a»d 
to  expect  to  be  paid  and  treated  accordingly,  the 
best  way,  probably,  is,  to  put  up  a  temporary 
post-and-rail  fence,  sufficient  to  keep  out  a  suck- 
ing pig;  and  to  keep  this  fence  standing  until 
ihe  hedge  has  arrived  at  the  age  of  six  years, 
as  before  mentioned. 

53.  There  yet  remains  one  advantage,  and 
that  not  a  small  one,  that  a  quickset  hedge  pos- 
sesses over  every  other  sort  of  fence ;  and  that 
is,  that  it  effectually  keeps  out  poultry,  the  de- 
predations of  which,  in  a  nice    garden,  are  so 


34  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

intolerable,  that  ic  frequently  becomes  a  question, 
whether  the  garden  shall  be  abandoned,  or  the 
poultry  destroyed.  Fowls  seldom,  or  never, 
ivy  over  a  fence.  They,- from  motives  of  pru- 
dence, first  tdight  upon  it,  and  then  drop  down 
on  the  other  side  ;  or,  if  they  perceive  danger, 
turn  short  about,  and  drop  back  again,  making 
a  noise  expressive  of  their  disappointment.  Now, 
Fowls  will  alight  on  wooden,  brick,  or  stone 
fences;  but  never  on  a  quickset  hedge,  which 
affords  no  steady  lodgment  for  their  feet,  and 
which  wounds  their  legs  and  thighs  and  bodies 
with  its  thorns. 

54.  What  has  been  said  here  of  forming  a 
hedge  applies  to  meadows  and  fields  as  well  as 
to  gardens;  observing,  however,  that,  in  all  ca- 
ses, the  ground  ought  to  be  well  prepared,  and 
cattle,  sheep  and  pigs  kept  effectually  off,  until 
tfte  hedge  arrive  at  its  sixth  year. 

55.  If  I  am  asked  how  the  white-thorn  plants 
are  to  be  had  in  America,  I  answer,  that  I  saw 
a  Tree  of  Hawthorn  at  McAljster's  Tavern* 
near  Harrisburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  loaded  with 
red  berries.  In  short,  one  large  tree,  or  bush, 
would  soon  stock  the  whole  country ;  and  they 
maybe  brought  from  England,  either,  in  plant  or 
in  berry.  But,  there  are  many  here  already.' 
If  more  are  wanted,  they  can  be  had  any  month 
of  December,  being  shipped  from  England,  in 
barrels,  half  sand  and  half  berries,  in  November. 
The  berries,  which  are  called  haws,  are  ripe  in 
November.  They  are  beaten  down  from  the 
tree,  and  cleared  from  leaves  and  bits  of  wrood. 
Then  they  are  mixed  with  sand,  or  earth,  four 
bushels  of  sand,  or  of   earth,    to    a   bushel  of 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  35 

haws.  They  are  thus  put  into  a  cellar,  or  other 
cool  place  :  and  here  they  remain,  always  about 
as  moist  as  common  earth,  until  sixteen  months 
after  they  are  put  in ;  that  is  to  say,  through 
a  winter,  a  summer,  and  another  winter ;  and 
then  they  are  sown  (in  America)  as  soon  as  the 
frost  is  clean  out  of  the  ground.  They  ought  to 
be  sown  in  little  drills  ;  the  drills  a  foot  a  part, 
and  the  haws  about  as  thick  as  peas  in  the  drills. 
Here  they  come  up ;  and,  when  they  have  stood 
till  the  next  year,  you  proceed  with  them  in  the 
manner  pointed  out  in  paragraph,  40. 

56.  These  haws  may  be  had  from  Liver/iool, 
from  London,  or  from  almost  any  Port  in  Great 
Britain  or  Ireland.  But,  they  can  be  had  only 
in  the  months  of  November  and  December. 
Seldom  in  the  latter ;  for,  the  birds  eat  them  at 
a  very  early  period.  They  are  ripe  early  in  No- 
vember ;  and,  half  haws  half  sand,  may  be  had, 
I  dare  say,  for  two  dollars  a  barrel  at  any 
place.  Three  barrels  would  fence  a  farm  !  And, 
as  America  owes  to  Europe  her  Tl  heat :  why  be 
ashamed  to  add  fences  to  the  debt  ?  But  (and 
with  this  I  conclude,)  if  there  be  a  resolution 
formed  to  throw  all  lands  to  common,  rather  than 
take  the  trifling  trouble  to  make  live  fences, 
I  do  hope  that  my  good  neighbours  will  not  as- 
cribe these  remarks  to  any  disposition  in  me  to 
call  in  question  the  wisdom  of  that  resolution. 
Figure  1,  in  Plate  IV.  exhibits  a  piece  of  the 
Garden-Hedge  in  elevation,  in  the  winter  sea- 
son.   See  this  Plate  IV.  in  Chapter  V. 


26  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

LAYING-OUT. 

57.  The  Laying-out  of  a  Garden  consists  in  the 
division  of  it  into  several  parts,  and  in  the  allot- 
ting of  those  several  parts  to  the  several  purpo- 
ses for  which  a  garden  is  made.  These  parts 
consist  of  Walks,  Paths,  Plats,  Borders,  and  a 
Hot-Bed  Ground, 

58.  To  render  my  directions  more  clear  as  well 
as  more  brief,  I  have  given  a  filan  of  my  pro- 
posed  garden,   Plate  I. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER. 


fe 


0         'I 


~^m 


38  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

This  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  plan ;  be- 
cause it  exhibits  trees  in  elevation  ;  but  it 
will  answer  the  purpose.  Of  the  sorts  of 
which  these  trees  are,  and  of  other  circum- 
stances belonging  to  them,  I  shall  speak  fully 
under  the  head  of  Fruits.  The  precise  descrip- 
tion of  the  Hot-Beds  will  be  found  under  that 
head.  At  present  my  object  is  to  explain  the 
mode  of  Laying-out  the  Ground. 

59.  The  length  of  the  Garden  is  100  yards, 
the  breadth  50  yards,  and  the  area  contains  a  sta- 
tute acre ;  that  is,  160  Rods  of  16  h  feet  to  the 
Rod.  In  order  to  bring  my  length  and  breadth 
within  round  numbers,  I  have  been  obliged  to 
add  6  rod  and  58  square  feet ;  but,  with  this 
trifling  addition  here  is  a  spot  containing  an  acre 
of  land.  Before,  however,  I  proceed  further,  let 
me  give  my  reasons  for  choosing  an  Oblong  Square, 
instead  of  a  Square  of  equal  sides.  It  will  be  seen, 
that  the  length  of  my  garden  is  from  East  to 
West.  By  leaving  a  greater  length  in  this  direc- 
tion than  from  North  to  South,  three  important 
advantages  are  secured.  First,  we  get  a  long  and 
warm  border  under  the  North  fence  for  the  rear- 
ing of  things  early  in  the  spring.  Second,  we 
get  a  long  and  cool  border  under  the  South  fence 
for  shading,  during  the  great  heats,  things,  to 
which  a  burning  sun  is  injurious.  Fourth,  by 
this  shape  of  the  area  of  the  Garden  a  larger 
portion  of  the  whole  is  sheltered,  during  winter 
and  spring,  from  the  bleak  winds. 

60.  Having  such  a  spot  before  us,  little  diffi- 
culty can  arise  in  Laying  it  out.  Indeed,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  state  the  dimensions.  The  se- 
veral parts  are  distinguished  by  number's.    The 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  39 

long  walk,  running  from  East  to  West  is  6  feet 
wide,  as  is  also  the  cross  walk,  in  the  middle. 
All  the  paths  are  3  feet  wide.  The  borders, 
Nos.  2  and  3,  are  9  feet  wide.  The  dimensions 
of  the  Plats  Nos.  5,  7,  8,  9,  10,  and  11,  are 
(each)  70  feet  from  East  to  West  and  56  from 
North  to  South.  Plat.  No.  6,  is  56  feet  by  50. 
Plat,  No.  4,  is  60  teet  by  36.  The  Hot-bed 
Ground,  No.  1,  is  70  feet  by  36.  I  leave  trifling 
tractions  unnoticed.  In  the  English  gardening- 
books,  they  call  those  parts  of  the  garden 
"  Quarters"  which  I  call  Plats  ;  but,  for  what 
reason  they  so  call  them  it  would  be  difficult  to 
conjecture.  I  call  them  plats,  which  is  the  pro- 
per word,  and  a  word,  too,  universally  understood. 
A  plat  is  a  piece  of  ground;  and  it  implies,  that 
the  piece  is  small,  compared  with  other  larger 
portions,  such  zsjields,  lots,  and  the  like.  I  will 
just  anticipate  here,  that  when  beds  for  Aspa- 
ragus, onions,  and  other  things  are  made,  they 
should  run  across  the  plats  from  North  to  South  ; 
and  that  rows  of  Corn,  Peas,  and  Beans  and 
other  larger  things  in  rows  should  have  the  same 
direction.  But,  when  beds  are  sown  with  smaller 
things,  the  rows  of  those  things  must  go  across 
the  beds  ;  as  will  be  seen  when  we  come  to  speak 
of   sowing. 

61.  As  to  the  art  of  Laying-out,  it  would  be 
to  insult  the  understanding  of  an  American  Far- 
mer to  suppose  him  to  stand  in  need  of  any  in- 
structions. A  chain,  or  a  line,  and  pole,  are  all 
he  can  want  for  the  purpose,  and  those  he  has 
always  at  hand.  To  form  the  walks  and  paths, 
is,  in  fact,  to  lay  out  the  Garden  ;  but,  the  walks 
and   paths  must  be  made   not   only  visible,   but 


4d  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

must  be  dug  out.  The  way  is  to  take  out  the 
earth  about  four  inches  deep,  and  spread  it  over 
the  adjoining  ground,  some  on  each  side  of  the 
walk  or  path,  taking  care  to  fling,  or  carry,  the 
earth,  so  dug  out,  to  such  a  distance,  that  every 
part  of  the  ground,  which  is  not  walk  or  path, 
receive  an  equal  proportion  of  what  is  thus  dug 
out.  Gravel  may  be  put  in  the  walks  and  paths: 
it  makes  the  whole  look  neater  ;  but,  in  a  country 
where  the  frost  is  so  hard  in  winter  and  the 
ground  so  dry  in  summer,  gravel  can  hardly  be 
said  to  be  necessary,  while  it  may  be  trouble- 
some ;  for,  in  spite  of  all  you  can  do,  a  part  of 
it  will  get  into  the  borders ;  and,  there  it  must 
do  harm. 

62.  It  will  be  seen,  that  about  a  third  part  of 
the  Garden  is  appropriated  to  Fruit  trees.  The 
reason  for  this,  and  the  uses  of  the  other  parts  of 
the  ground,  will  be  fully  stated  in  the  Chapters  on 
Cultivation.  I  have  here  treated  merely  of  the 
form  and  the  dimensions,  and  of  the  division,  of 
the  Garden.  It  is  in  treating  of  the  cultivation 
of  the  several  sorts  of  plants  that  our  attention 
will  be  brought  back  to  a  close  contemplation  of 
the  several  parts  included  in  this  division. 


CHAPTER  II. 

On  the  Making  and  Managing  of  Hot-Beds  and 
Green  Houses. 

HOT-BEDS. 

63.  I  am  not  about  to  lay  down  rules  for  per- 
sons who  can  afford  to  have  cucumbers  in  March. 
This  amounts  to  something  little  short  of  folly  in 
England:  in  America  it  would  be  something 
worse.  But,  Hot  Beds,  as  things  of  real  use, 
are  more  necessary  in  America  than  in  England; 
becau#  in  the  former  country,  the  winter  will  not 
suffer  to  exist  in  the  open  air  many  plants,  which 
are  wanted  to  start  with  the  warm  sun,  and  which 
plants  the  winter  will  suffer  to  exist  in  the  open 
air  in  England.  The  American  Sfiri?ig  bears  no 
resemblance  to  that  of  England,  which  comes  on 
by  degrees  from  the  end  of  February  to  the  be- 
ginning of  June  :  while  the  American  Spring 
cannot  be  said  to  be  of  a  fortnight's  duration. 
There  is  in  fact,  no  Spring :  there  is  a  Winter, 
a  Summer  and  an  Autumn,  but  no  Spring ;  and 
none  would  ever  have  been  thought  of,  if  the 
word  had  not  come  from  Europe  along  with  many- 
others  equally  inapplicable. 

64.  This  sudden  transition  from  a  winter, 
which  not  only  puts  a  total  stop  to,  but  effaces 
all  traces  of  vegetation,  to  a  summer,  which,  in 
an  instant,  creates  swarms  of  insects,  or  warms 
them  into  life,  sets  the  sap  in  rapid  motion,  and 

4* 


42  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

in  six  days,  turns  a  brown  rye-field  into  a  sheet 
of  the  gayest  verdure;  this  sudden  transition 
presents  the  gardener,  or  the  farmer,  with  ground 
well  chastened  by  the  frost,  smoking  with  fer- 
mentation, and  with  a  sun  ready  to  push  forward 
every  plant;  but,  alas!  he  has  no filants  !  I 
know,  that  there  are  persons,  who  do  preserve 
lettuce,  cabbage,  and  other  plants,  during  the 
winter,  and  that  there  are  persons<  who  rear  them 
on  Hot-beds  in  the  Spring  ;  bu^f  what  I  aim  at, 
is,  to  render  the  work  easy,  to  farmers  in  parti- 
cular; not  only  as  the  means  of  supplying  their 
tables,  but  the  stalls  of  their  cattle,  and  the 
yards  of  their  sheep  and  pigs.  In  the  summer  (a 
cruelly  dry  one)  of  1819,  who,  within  many 
miles  of  my  house  in  Long  Island,  had  a  loaved 
cabbage,  except  myself  ?  During  June^  July 
and  August,  I  allowed  fifteen  a  day  for  my  own 
family :  I  gave  ten  a  day  to  one  neighbour ;  to 
others  X  gave  about  five  hundred,  perhaps,  first 
hot-bed,  made  on  the  19th  of  March.  The  hot- 
bed had  six  lights  altogether,  and  was  about 
twenty  feet  long  ;  but,  the  part  appropriated  to 
these  cabbages  was  only  four  feet  by  three  and  a 
half.  The  plants  came  out  of  this  bed  on  the 
20th  of  April,  and  were  planted  three  inches 
apart  on  another  bed,  without  glass,  but  covered 
at  night  with  a  cloth.  On  the  20th  of  May,  they 
were  planted  out  in  the  open  ground;  and,  on 
the  17th  of  June  we  began  to  eat  them.  All 
these  cabbages,  Early  Dwarfs,  Early  Yorks, 
Sugar  Loaves,  and  Battersea,  (coming  in  one 
sort  after  the  other)  amounting  to  about  four 
thousand  in  number,  stood,  when  planted  out, 
upon  rather  less  than  thirty  rods  of  ground;  and 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  > 

the  earliest  sorts,  while  we  were  using  tham  so 
liberally,  were  selling  in  New  York  mayfcet  at 
from  6  to  4  pence  a  piece. 

65.  To  preserve  during'  Winter,  such  a  num- 
ber of  plants,  or,  indeed,  any  number,  however 
small,  is  a  work  of  great  difficulty,  and  is  mere- 
ly chance- work  after  all.  Besides,  fall-sown  plants 
are  not  so  good  as  spring-sown.  They  become 
stunted  ;  and  they  very  frequently  go  off  to  seed, 
instead  of  producing  loaves.  However,  it  is  not 
my  business  to  treat  here  of  cultivation :  I  am 
here  to  speak  of  the  Making  and  Managing  of 
hot -beds.  This  must,  of  course,  include  a  des- 
cription of  the  Wood  and  Glass,  when  formed 
into  frames  and  Lights.  But,  first  of  all,  I  must 
treat  of  the  making  of  the  bed. 

66.  The  materials  of  which  the  bed  is  to  be 
composed,  and  the  manner  of  preparing  those 
materials,  are  first  to  be  spoken  of. 

67.  Dung  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep  or  pigs,  is 
used  to  make  the  bed  of.  Either  may  be  made  to 
do,  with  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  care  and  trou- 
ble ;  but,  the  best  possible  thing  is  dung  from 
the  stable,  taken  away  before  it  has  been  rotted, 
short  and  long  promiscuously,  but  rather  long 
than  short.  If  there  be  a  large  proportion  of 
short  it  may  have  any  litter  added  to  it ;  any 
broken  straw  or  hay  or  corn  stalks,  in  order  to 
make  a  due  mixture  of  long  and  short. 

68.  This  choosing  of  the  materials  being  a 
very  important  point,  I  shall,  in  order  to  make 
my  instructions  clear,  suppose  a  case,  and  such  a 
case  as  will  be  very  clear  to  every  American 
Farmer. 

69.  By  the  month  of  March  he  has  always  a 
heap  of  dung,  which  has,  from  time  to  time:, 


44  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

been  thrown  out  of  his  stable,  during  the  winter 
and  fall.  This  is  so?ne  long  and  some  short.  Let 
the  whole  of  this  (supposing  there  to  be  three 
horses  kept)  be  taken ;  and,  in  addition,  a  pretty- 
good  wagon  load  of  long  stained  stuff  from  the 
cow-yard,  or  sheep-yard.  Toss  it  down  in  a 
heap,  near  where  you  are  going  to  make  the  bedr 
Then  begin  on  one  side  of  it,  and  take  the  stuff 
and  begin  making  a  fresh  heap  of  it.  Shake 
every  fork  full  well  to  pieces ,  and  mix  well  the 
long  with  the  short ;  and  thus  go  on,  till  you 
have  the  whole  in  a  round  heap  rising  to  a  point. 

70.  The  second  day  after  this  heap  is  made 
it  will  begin  to  send  forth  steam.  Let  it  remain 
three  days  in  this  state  ;  that  is  to  say,  four  clear 
days  after  the  day  of  making  the  heap.  Then 
turn  the  heap  back  again ;  shaking  all  well  to 
fiieces,  as  before,  and  bringing  to  the  inside  that 
part  of  the  stuff  which  was  before  on  the  outside 
of  the  heap.  Let  it  remain  now  three  clear 
days  after  the  day  of  turning.  Then  turn  it 
again ;  shaking  well  to  fiieces,  as  before,  and 
bringing  again  the  outside  stuff  to  the  inside. 
When  it  has  remained  two  clear  days  in  this 
state,   it  is  fit  to  make  the  bed  with. 

71.  In  the  making  the  bed  you  will  proceed 
as  directed  below ;  but  I  must  first  describe  the 
Frame  and  the  Lights.  Were  I  speaking  toper- 
sons  living  in  a  country,  where  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  hot-bed  frame,  I  should  be  obliged 
to  enter  into  a  detailed  mechanical  description. 
But,  as  Frames  and  Lights  are  to  be  seen  in  al- 
most every  considerable  town  in  America;  and# 
as  I  have 'known  very  few  American  Farmers, 
who  are  not  able  to  make  both  with  their  own 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  45 

hands,  without  any  help  from  either  carpenter 
or  glazier,  it  will  be  necessary  merely  for  me  to 
say,  that  the  Frame  is  of  the  best  shape  when  it 
is  eighteen  inch  s  deep  at  the  back  and  nine 
inches  deep  at  the  front.  This  gives  slope  enough^ 
and  especially  in  a  country  where  there  is  so 
little  rainy  weather.  The  Frame  is  the  wood 
work,  on  which  the  Lights,  or  glass-work,  are 
laid.  There  needs  no  more  than  a  good  look  at 
a  thing  of  this  sort  to  know  how  to  make  it,  or 
to  order  it  to  be  made.  And,  as  it  is  useless  to 
make  a  hot-bed  without  having  the  Frame  and 
the  Lights  ready,  I  shall  suppose  them  to  be 
prepared.  I  suppose  a  three-light  Frame,  four 
feet  wide  and  nine  feet  long,  which,  of  course, 
will  make  every  Light  three  feet  wide  and  four 
long ;  because,  the  long  way  of  the  light  fits, 
of  course,  the  cross  way  of  the  Frame. 

72.  Now,  then,  to  the  work  of  making  the  bed. 
The  front  of  the  bed  is,  of  course,  to  be  full 
South,  so  that  the  noon  sun  may  come  right  upon 
the  glass.  The  length  and  width  of  the  bed 
must  be  those  of  the  Frame.  Therefore,  take 
the  Frame  itself,  and  place  it  on  the  sfiot  nvhicft 
you  mean  the  bed  to  stand  on.  See  that  you  have 
it  rightly  placed  ;  and  then,  with  a  pointed  stick, 
make  a  mark  in  the  ground  all  round  the  outside 
of  the  Frame.  Then  take  the  Frame  away. 
Then  take  some  sharp-pointed  straight  stakes, 
and  drive  them  in  the  ground,  at  each  corner  of 
this  marked-out  place  for  the  bed,  and  one  or  two 
on  the  back  and  on  the  front  side.  Let  these  be 
about  four  feet  high.  They  are  to  be  your 
guides  in  building  the  bed;  and,  they  ought, 
therefore;  to  be  very  straight,  and  to  be  placed 


46  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

Perfectly  iifiright.  Each  stake  may  be  placed 
about  an  inch  further  out  than  the  mark  on 
the  ground;  for  fear  of  having  the  bed  too  nar- 
row ;  though,  observe,  the  bed  should  be  as  near- 
ly the  same  length  and  breadth  as  the  Frame  as 
it  is  practicable  to  make  it. 

73.  In  order  to  begin  the  work  well,  it  is  a 
very  good  way,  to  put  some  boards  on  their 
edges,  on  the  ground,  at  the  ends  and  sides,  on 
the  insides  of  the  stakes  ;  so  as  to  have  a  sort  of 
open  box  to  begin  to  make  the  bed  in.  The  eye 
of  a  gardener  scorns  such  assistance ;  but  it  is 
very  useful  to  persons  unused  to  the  work. 

74.  Thus,  all  being  prepared,  you  begin  ma- 
king the  bed.  Begin  taking  the  dung  on  the 
side  of  your  heap  nearest  to  the  spot  where  you 
are  building  the  bed.  Keep  taking  up  clean  to 
the  ground.  Have  shovel  as  well  as  fork.  Take 
long  and  short  fairly,  and  mix  them  well  as  you 
put  them  in.  Shake  the  stuff  in  such  a  way  as 
not  to  suffer  any  lumjis.  Shake  every  straw  from 
every  other  straw.  Let  the  >ed  rise  in  oil  parts 
together  as  nearly  as  possible.  That  is  to  say, 
do  not  put  much  in  one  part  at  one  time.  Beat 
the  whole  down  with  the  fork  as  you  proceed. 
When  you  have  shaken  on  dung  to  the  thickness 
of  four  or  five  inches,  beat  all  over  well  again  ;  and 
so  on,  till  the  work  be  finished.  But  mind  :  you 
must  be  very  careful,  to  keep  the  edges  of  the  bed 
well  beaten;  or  else  they  will  be  more  hollow, 
and  will  sink  more,  than  the  rest,  and  then  the 
earth  on  the  bed  will  crack  in  the  middle.  Beat 
them  well ;  keep  them  well  up  as  you  proceed  ; 
beat  well  the  sides  oi  the  bed,  as  it  goes  on  rising. 
Comb  the  sides  frequently  down  with  the  tines 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  47 

of  the  fork.  And,  in  short,  make  the  sides 
upright,  and  smooth  and  neat  as  a  wall.  As  you 
proceed,  measure  the  height  frequently,  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  bed,  to  see  that  you  are 
keeping  the  height  every  where  the  same.  At 
last,  shovel  and  sweep  up  all  the  short  earthy 
stuff  round  the  bed  and  where  your  dung-heap 
was,  and  lay  it  very  smoothly  on  the  top  of  the 
bed;  and  make  all  as  smooth  and  as  level  as  a 
die  with  the  back  of  your  shovel. 

75.  Thus  the  bed  is  made.  Then  put  on  the 
Frame,  and  fix  it  nicely.  Then  put  the  Lights 
upon  the  Frame.  If  you  finish  your  bed  by 
noon,  the  heat  will  begin  to  rise  by  the  next  morn- 
ing; and  by  the  noon  of  the  second  day  after 
the  bed  is  made,  the  heat  will  be  up.  Poke  your 
finger  as  deep  as  you  can  into  the  middle  of  the 
bed,  when  you  have  taken  off  one  of  the  Lights. 
If  the  heat  be  so  great  as  to  burn  your  finger ; 
that  is  to  say,  if  you  cannot  endure  the  heat ; 
then  it  is  too  great  to  receive  the  earth ;  but,  if 
not,  fiut  on  the  earth  all  over  the  bed.  If  the 
heat  be  too  great,  give  the  bed  a  little  air  and 
wait  till  a  little  of  the  heat  be  gone  off. 

76.  The  earth  should  be  dry  ;  not  like  dust ; 
but  not  wet.  I  made  provision  for  my  bed,  by 
putting  earth  in  my  cellar,  in  November.  It  is 
not  much  that  is  wanted.  The  bed  is  to  be 
covered  all  over,  about  six  inches  deefi.  When 
the  earth  has  been  on  twenty  four  hours,  take  off 
the  lights,  and  stir  the  earth  well  with  your 
hands ;  for  hands  are  the  only  tools  used  in  a 
hot-bed.  When  you  have  stirred  the  earth  well, 
and  made  it  level  and  smooth,  you  may  sow  your 
seedy  if  you  do  not  find  the  earth  too  hot.    But, 


48  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

observe,  the  earth  is  to  be  level,  and  not  slofiing, 
like  the  glass.  The  glas  is  sloping  to  meet  the 
sun,  and  to  turn  off  the  wet;  but,  the  earth  must 
lie  perfectly  level ;  and  this,  you  will  observe,  is 
a  very  great  point. 

77.  Next  comes  the  act  of  sowing.  The  more 
handsomely  this  is  done,  the  better  it  is  done.  A 
handsome  dress  is  better  than  an  ugly  one,  not 
because  it  is  warmer,  or  cooier,  but  because, 
liking  it  better,  being  more  pleased  with  it,  we 
take  more  care  of  it.  Those  who  have  seen  tpo 
or  three  women  together,  crossing  dirty  streets, 
or  in  danger  from  horses  or  carriages,  where  the 
volunteer  assistance  of  men  became  useful ;  those 
philosophers,  who  have  been  spectators  of  scenes 
like  this,  cannot  have  failed  to  discover,  that 
humanity,  like  smoke,  is  very  apt  to  fly  to  the 
fairest ;  and  I  much  question  whether  Nicodemus 
Broadbrim  himself,  if  he  saw  a  pretty  girl  and 

g  ugly  one  stuck  in  the  mud,  would  not  give  his 
hand  to  the  former.  He  would  hand  them  both 
out  to  a  certainty ;  but,  he  would  extricate  the 
pretty  one  first.  There  is  a  great  deal  in  the 
look  of  our  gardens  and  fields  ;  and,  surely,  in  so 
diminutive  a  concern  as  a  hot-bed,  all  ought  to  be 
neat  and  regular.  Seeds  are  great  Cell-tales ; 
for,  when  they  come  up,  we  discover  all  the  care- 
lessness that  may  have  prevailed  at  the  sowing 
of  them. 

78.  When  you  have  taken  off  all  the  lights, 
make  little  drills  with  your  finger,  from  the  back 
of  the  bed  to  the  front,  half  an  inch  deep,  and 
about  an  inch  a-fiart.  Make  them  equi-distant, 
parallel,  and  straight.  Then  drop  in  your  Cab 
bage  seeds  along  the  drills,  very  thin;  but,  twenty 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  49 

seeds,  perhaps  in  an  inch ;  for,  some  will  not 
grow,  and  some  may  be  pulled  up  when  they  ap- 
pear. It  is  better  to  have  rather  too  many  than 
too  few.  When  you  have  dropped  in  your 
seeds  all  over  the  bed,  and  distinguished  the 
several  sorts  of  Cabbages  by  names,  or  numbers, 
written  on  a  bit  of  paper,  and  put  into  the  cleft 
of  a  little  stick,  stuck  in  the  ground  ;  then  cover 
all  the  seeds  over  neatly  and  smoothly.  Put  on 
the  lights ;  and  look  upon  your  spring  work  as 
happily  begun. 

79.  But  now  we  come  to  the  management  of 
a  hot-bed.  And,  observe,  that  the  main  princi- 
ple is,  always  to  give  as  much  air  as  the  plants 
iv ill  endure.  I  have  always  observed,  that  the 
great  and  prevalent  error  is  an  endeavour  to  ob 
tain,  by  exclusion  of  air,  something  to  make  up 
for  the  want  of  bottom  heat.  It  is  not  thus  that 
nature  operates.  She  gives  the  air  as  well  as  the 
heat  ;  and,  without  the  former  she  gives  nothing. 
I  suppose  the  hot-bed,  made  as  above,  to  be 
about  four  feet  high,  when  just  finished.  It  will 
sink  as  it  heats ;  and  will,  at  last,  come  to  about  a 
foot  and  a  half  Its  heat  will  gradually  diminish; 
but,  it  will  give  a  great  heat  for  about  six  weeks; 
and  some  heat  for  four  months.  It  is  this  bottom 
heat  that  makes  things  grow.  The  sun  is  often 
hot  in  May  ;  but,  it  is  not  till  the  earth  is  warm 
that  vegetation  advances  with  rapidity. 

80.  Having  secured  the  bottom  heat,  make 
free  with  the  air.  Even  before  the  seeds  begin 
to  appear,  give  air  to  the  bed  every  day,  unless 
it  be  very  cold  weather  indeed.  The  usual  way 
of  giving  air  is  by  bits  of  thick  board,  cut  in  the 
shape  of  a  triangle,  or  rather,  like  a  wedge  y  broad 

5 


50  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

at  one  end,  and  coming  to  a  point  at  the  other. 
Each  light  is  lifted  up,  either  at  back  or  front  of 
the  frame,  as  the  wind  may  be,  and  the  wedge, 
or  titter,  as  it  is  called,  is  put  in,  to  hold  the  light 
up.  But,  if  more  air  be  wanted,  the  lights  may 
be  shoved  up,  or  down ;  and,  in  a  fine  day,  actu- 
ally taken  off. 

81.  When  the  plants  come  up,  they  will  soon 
tell  you  all  about  air ;  for,  if  they  have  not 
enough,  they  will  draw  up,  long-legged,  and  will 
have  small  seed  leaves,  and,  indeed,  if  too  much 
deprived  of  air,  will  drop  down  and  die.  Take 
care  in  time  to  prevent  this.  Let  them  grow 
strong  rather  than  tall.  Short  stems,  broad  seed 
leaves ,  very  green  ;  these  are  the  signs  of  good 
plants  and  proper  management. 

82.  It  will  be  necessary  to  water.  Take  off  a 
light  at  a  time,  and  water  with  a  watering  pot 
that  does  not  pour  out  heavily.  Water  just 
about  sun-set ;  and  then  shut  down  the  lights ; 
and  the  heat  wTill  then  rise;  and  make  the  plant 
grow  prodigiously. 

83.  As  soon  as  the  plants  are  fairly  up>  thin 
them,  leaving/our  in  an  inch  ;  and  stir  the  ground 
about,  at  the  same  time  with  your  finger.  This 
will  leave  in  the  frame  from  twenty -Jive  to  thirty 
thousand  plants.  If  you  want  less,  sow  in  wider 
rows  and  thinner  in  the  row.  But,  above  all 
things,  give  air  enough.  Do  not  attempt  to  make 
the  plants  grow  fast.  You  are  sure  to  destroy 
them,  if  you  make  this  attempt.  Have  patience. 
The  plants  will  be  ready  soon  enough.  Get  them 
strong  &nd green;  and,  to  do  this,  you  must  give 
them  plenty  of  air.  Remember,  that,  out  of  a 
thousand  failures  in  hot-bed  culture,  nine   him- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  51 

dred  and  ninety-nine  arise  from  the  giving  of  too 
little  air, 

84.  Before  I  proceed  to  the  time  of  taking 
the  plants  out  of  the  bed,  I  must  make  a  remark 
or  two  respecting  shelter  for  hot -beds  ;  and  this 
leads  me  back  to  the  Plan  of  the  Garden.  In 
that  plan  (page  307)  is  the  Hot-bed  Ground,  No. 
1,  which  is  70  feet  by  36.  The  fence  to  the 
North  and  West  is  the  hedge,  and  that  to  the 
South  and  East  ought  to  be  made  of  Broom 
Corn  Stalks,  in  this  manner :  Put  some  Locust- 
Posts  along  at  eight  or  ten  feet  apart.  Let 
these  posts  be  ten  feet  high  and  squared  to 
three  inches  by  three  inches.  Lay  a  bed  of 
bricks,  or  smooth  stones,  along  the  ground  from 
post  to  post,  and  let  this  bed  be  about  seven  or 
eight  inches  wide.  This  bed  is  for  the  bottoms 
©f  the  Broom-Corn  Stalks  to  stand  on.  Go  on 
one  side  of  the  row  of  posts,  and  nail  three 
rows  of  strips,  or  laths  (best  of  Locust,)  to  the 
posts.  The  first  row  at  a  foot  and  a  half  from 
the  ground ;  the  second  row  at  six  feet  from  the 
ground ;  and  the  third  row  within  six  inches  o. 
the  top  of  the  posts.  Then  do  the  same  on  the 
other  side  of  the  posts.  Thus  you  will  have  a 
space  of  three  inches  wide,  all  the  way  along, 
between  these  opposite  rows  of  strips.  Then  take 
fine,  long,  straight  Broom-Corn  Stalks,  and  till  up 
this  space  with  them  full  and  tight,  putting  them, 
of  course,  bottoms  downwards,  and  placing  these 
bottoms  upon  the  bricks.  When  the  whole  is 
nicely  filled,  strain  a  line  from  top  of  post  to  top 
of  post,  and  according  to  that  line,  cut  off  the 
tops  of  the  Broom-Corn  Stalks  ;  and»  while  the 
fence  will  look  very  handsome,  it  will  be  a  shelter 


52  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

much  more  effectual  than  pales  or  a  wall ;  and, 
in  my  opinion  will  last  as  long  as  the  former, 
unless  the  former  be  made  wholly  of  Locust. 
Stalks,  rushes,  reeds,  straw,  twigs,  bows,  any- 
thing of  this  kind,  formed  into  a  fence,  or  put  up 
as  shelter,  is  preferable  to  any  thing  smooth  and 
solid.  Grass  will  shoot  earlier  under  a  bush 
than  under  a  wall,  or  even  a  house.  A  wall  will 
not  save  your  ears  from  the  sharp  winds  so 
effectually  as  even  a  thin  hedge.  The  American 
farmer  knows  well  the  warmth  that  walls  ot 
Corn-Stalks  afford. 

85.  However,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed,  that  a 
Hot-Bed  Ground  will  be  made  by  every  farmer  ; 
and,  therefore,  before  1  proceed  further  with 
my  instructions  about  it,  let  me  proceed  upon 
the  supposition,  that  the  aforementioned  bed  is 
made  in  some  ofien  place.  In  this  case  it  will 
be  necessary  to  use  some  precautions  as  to 
shelter. 

86.  While  the  dung  is  workings  before  it  be 
made  into  the  bed,  it  must,  in  case  of  very  sharfi 
frostt  be  covered,  especially  on  the  North  and 
North  West  sides.  If  it  be  not,  it  will  freeze  on 
these  sides,  and,  of  course,  it  will  not  ferment. 
However,  this  is  no  troublesome  job  ;  you  have 
only  to  throw  on  a  parcel  of  straw,  or  stalks  ; 
and  take  them  off  again,  when  the  frost  relaxes; 
When  the  bed  is  made,  this  is  what  I  did.  I  drove 
some  stakes  down,  four  feet  distant  from  the 
bed,  opposite  the  North  Side  and  the  West  End. 
I  tacked  a  pole  from  stake  to  stake  ;  and  then  I 
placed  up  along  against  this  pole,  three  or  four 
rows  of  sheaves  of  tall  Corn-Stalks.  This  shel- 
tered the  bed  from  the  North  West  winds,  an,d 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  53 

prevented  it  from  freezing  on  that  quarter.  Some 
sheaves  might,  besides,  if  necessary,  be  laid 
against  the  bed  itself.  But,  observe,  you  must 
be  able  to  get  at  the  Lights  constantly  to  give 
air,  and  to  see  how  things  go  on ;  and,  therefore, 
it  is  better  to  have  your  shelter  at  some  feet 
distance  from  the  bed. 

87.  We  now  return  to  the  bed  and  the 
plants.  I  suppose  the  seed  to  have  been  sown 
on  the  tenth  of  March  (Long  Island,  mind,)  and 
that  you  have  been  very  attentive  to  give  air  and 
water.  By  the  10th  of  April,  tlie  plants  will 
have  eight  leaves,  and  they  will  form  one  solid 
patch  of  green.  They  will  be  a  little  drawn  u/i, 
though  you  have  given  tkem  plenty  of  air.  And 
now  they  must  be  removed  into  a  new  bed.  Dig 
out  the  ground  a  foot  deep,  four  feet  wide,  and 
to  as  great  a  length  as  is  required  by  your  num- 
ber of  plants.  Fill  this  hollow  up  with  the  best 
dung  you  have,  cover  it  over  with  four  inches  of 
good  earth  ;  and  plant  your  plants  upon  it  in 
rows  four  inches  a-part,  and  two  inches  a-part  in 
the  row.  When  you  have  put  out  the  plants, 
water  them  lightly ;  and  shade  them  for  two  or 
three  days  from  the  sun.  They  must  also  be 
sheltered  every  night,  in  this  manner.  Take 
some  rods,  put  one  end  of  each  rod  into  the 
ground  on  one  side  of  the  bed,  and  the  other  end 
on  the  other  side ;  put  these  rods  at  about  two 
feet  asunder  all  along  the  bed  ;  then  tie  some 
rods  long  ways  to  these  arched  rods ;  so  that, 
when  you  have  done,  your  bed  has  an  arch  over 
it  formed  by  these  rods.  Every  evening  about 
sun-set,  cover  this  arch  with  mats,  with  old  car- 


54  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

pets,  or  with  a  slight  covering  of  any  sort,  which 
take  off  again  at  sun-rise  in  the  morning. 

88.  To  put  out  all  your  plants  in  this  way  will 
require  a  very  long  bed,  or  many  short  ones.  If, 
therefore,  your  number  of  plants  be  very  large, 
the  best  way  will  be  to  put  out  a  part  of  them  in 
this  way,  leave  the  remainder  in  the  hot  bed  a 
week  longer  (taking  off  the  lights  in  the  day 
time,)  and  then  to  plant  all  the  remainder  out  in 
beds  of  fine  rich  earth,  in  the  natural  ground, 
and  without  any  covering. 

89.  Now,  here  we  drop,  for  the  present,  the 
subject  of  Cabbage  Plants ;  because  I  am  to 
speak  of  their  culture,  under  the  word,  Cabbage, 
in  that  part  of  the  work,  which  will  treat  of  the 
cultivation  of  vegetables.  I  am,  in  this  part  of 
my  work,  to  confine  myself  to  the  making  and 
managing  of  Hot-beds ;  and,  I  have  selected  the 
Cabbage  Plant,  as  a  subject  for  explaining  my 
meaning,  because  I  think  that  the  raising  of  that 
plant  is  one  of  the  most  useful  purposes,  to  which 
a  hot-bed  can  be  applied  in  America. 

90.  But,  a  Hot-Bed  may  be  applied  to  many 
other  purposes.  Lettuces  may  be  raised  in  it. 
Pepper-grass,  Raddishes,  young  Onions,  may  be 
raised.  Parsley-roots  may  be  put  in,  and  fine 
parsley  obtained  in  March.  Asparagus  may  be 
raised  in  this  way.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
attempt  to  bring  Cucumbers  and  Melons  to  fruit 
in  a  hot-bed:  but  the  plants  may  be  raised  there, 
and  afterwards  put  out  in  the  ground  with  great 
advantage  in  point  of  time.  Several  sorts  of 
annual  jftowcrs  and  of  Green-house  plants  may  be 
got  forward  by  a  hot-bed,  which,  without  it,  can 
hardly  be  got  at  all  to  any  great  degree  of  per- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  56 

fection.  Of  the  management  of  these  sorts  of 
plants  in  a  hot-bed  I  shall  speak  under  their  se- 
veral navies  ;  but  on  the  management  of  hot- 
beds, there  yet  remain  to  be  made  some  obser- 
vations, which  have  a  general  application. 

91.  As  to  heat  and  air  it  will  demandbut  little 
attention  to  manage  well.  But  a  little  Thermo- 
meter, hung  up,  or  laid  down,  in  the  bed,  will 
be  of  use.  The  heat  should  not  exceed  seventy- 
*ive  degrees  in  the  day  time,  and  sixty  at  night. 
If  it  come  down  to  fifty  at  night  it  is  better.  If 
you  cannot  keep  it  down  to  sixty  without  giving 
a  little  air  at  night,  give  it,  by  putting  something 
under  a  light,  or  two  lights,  to  let  in  a  little  ot 
the  cold.  For,  always  bear  in  mind,  that,  when 
plants,  of  whatever  kind,  be  drawn  u/i,  they 
arenearlv  spoiled. 

92.  When  the  Sun  comes  upon  the  glass,  it 
soon  augments  the  heat;  and  the  air  must  be 
given  immediately  if  possible,  so  as  to  keep  down 
the  heat.  Changes  are  very  sudden  in  March, 
April  and  May  ;  and,  therefore,  somebody  should 
always  be  at  hand  to  attend  to  the  hot-bed.  But, 
if  the  master  be  from  home,  there  is,  surely, 
some  man ;  or,  at  any  rate,  a  wife,  a  son,  or  a 
daughter.  The  labour  is  nothing,  the  trouble 
very  little  indeed,  and  all  that  is  wanted  is  a 
small  portion  of  care. 

93.  It  may  happen  that  the  bed  will  get  too 
cool.  It  may  loose  its  heat  sooner  than  you  could 
wish,  especially  if  you  use  it  for  Cucumber  and 
Melon-plants  after  you  have  used  it  for  things 
that  you  want  earlier ;  and,  I  shall  show,  that 
this  maybe  very  useful  in  certain  cases.  Now 
if  the  heat  be   too  much  diminished,  you  may 


56  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

easily  restore  it,  thus  :  make  a  little  narrow  hot- 
bed, a  foot  and  a  half  wide,  all  round  the  bed. 
Put  the  dung  together  as  before ;  place  it  close 
to  the  bed ;  beat  it  well ;  and  build  it  up,  all  round, 
as  high  as  the  top.  of  the  Frame.  This  is  called 
lining  ;  and  it  will  give  the  bed  nearly  as  much 
heat  as  it  had  at  first.  If  you  do  not  want  so 
much  heat,  line  only  the  back  of  the  bed;  or  the 
back  and  the  two  ends.  In  short,  take  as  much 
heat  as  you  may  want. 

94.  Before  I  dismiss  the  subject  of  hot  beds, 
I  must  notice,  that  there  are  other  contrivances 
than  frames  resorted  to  in  this  kind  of  garden 
work.  A  frame  is,  as  we  here  see,  a  wooden 
construction,  for  lights  of  glass  to  be  placed  on. 
For  smaller  concerns  there  are  very  convenient 
things,  called  hand  lights  or  hand-glasses.  A^ 
hand-glass  is  a  square  glass-house  in  miniature 
Its  sides  are  about  eight  inches  high  from  the 
ground  to  the  eves.  The  roof  rises  from  each 
side  in  a  triangular  form,  so  that  it  comes  to  a 
point  at  the  top,  as  a  pyramid  does,  the  base  of 
^  hich  is  a  square.  At  this  point  is  a  stout  ring, 
to  lift  the  hand-glass  about  by.  The  panes  of 
glass  are  fixed  in  lead;  and  the  rim  round  the 
bottom  is  made  of  iron  or  of  wood.  Any  gla- 
zier can  make  these  hand-lights,  and  they  are 
by  no  means  expensive.  Here,  where  the  tax 
upon  glass  is  so  slight,  they  cannot  be  more 
expensive  than  in  England  ;  and  •  there  they  do 
not  cost  much  more  than  a  dollar  each.  They 
may  be  made  of  almost  any  size.  About  IS 
inches  square  at  the  base  is  a  very  good  size.  In 
the  gardens  near  London  there  are  acres  of 
ground  covered  witl>  such  glasses.     It   is  the 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  57 

custom  there  to  plant  out  cauliflowers  in  the  fall, 
and  to  cover  them,  in  severe  weather,  during 
winter,  with  hand-glasses.  A  hand-glass  may, 
in  April,  be  put  over  a  hot-bed  made  with  a 
nvheel-barrow  full  of  dung.  It  would  bring  on 
cabbage  plants  enough  for  two  or  three  gardens. 
It  is  handy  to  sow  things  under  in  the  natural 
ground,  in  the  spring,  especially  flowers  that  are 
to  be  transplanted ;  for,  on  the  natural  ground,  it 
adds  to  the  heat  in  the  day,  and  keeps  off  cold 
and  slight  frost  in  the  night.  Air  is  given,  by 
putting  a  brick,  or  bit  of  wood,  under  one  of  the 
sides  of  the  hand-glass. 

95.  Now,  look  back  at  the  Plan  of  the  garden. 
No.  1,  is  the  Hot  bed  Ground.  It  is  seventy  feet 
long  and  thirty-six  wide.  It  is  wide  enough  to 
contain  four  rows  of  hot-beds,  with  room  for 
linings.  But,  though  a  tenth  part  of  this  should 
not  be  wanted,  the  place  is  a  warm  filace,  and  is 
better  for  tender  things  than  a  colder  place.  The 
entrance  to  it  from  the  Western  door  of  the 
garden  is  convenient  for  the  carrying  in  of  dung, 
and  for  carrying  it  out  again  for  the  use  of  the 
garden. 

96.  Here  would  be  room  for  a  great  deal  more 
beds,  certainly,  than  can  ever  be  wanted  even  in 
a  gentleman's  garden.  But,  observe,  the  room  is 
no  evil.  Whatever  is  not  used  for  hot-beds  may 
be  applied  to  other  purposes.  This  is  a  sheltered 
spot ;  a«d,  it  will,  by  and  by  be  seen,  that,  even 
if  not  used  for  hot-beds  at  all ;  such  a  spot  must 
be  of  great  utility. 


58  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

GREEN-HOUSES. 

97,  My  object  is  not  to  treat  of  any  thing  very 
expensive  or  very  curious.  There  are  persons, 
whose  taste  greatly  differs  from  mine  in  regard  to 
shrubs  and  flowers;  and  I  by  no  means  pretend 
to  say  that  mine  is  the  best.  But,  I  can  treat  of 
nothing  that  I  do  not  understand,  that  is  to  say, 
of  nothing  with  regard  to  which  I  have  not  had 
experience.  My  study,  as  to  gardening,  has 
always  been  directed  towards  things  that  please 
the  senses  ;  in  vegetables,  things  that  please  the 
palate,  and  that,  to  use  the  common  saying,  are 
good  to  eat :  in  shrubs  and  flowers,  things  that 
delight  the  sight  or  the  smell.  Mere  botanical 
curiosities,  as  they  are  called,  I  never  took  de- 
light in.  If  the  merit  of  a  plant  or  a  flower  is 
not  to  be  discovered  without  close  and  somewhat 
painful  examination,  it  has  always  appeared  to 
me  not  worth  the  looking  for.  There  is,  in  fact, 
nothing  more  curious  in  one  plant,  or  flower,  than 
in  another.  They  are  all  equally  curious ;  they 
are  equally  objects  of  wonder.  There  is  more 
of  rareness,  in  England,  in  the  Indian  Corn  than 
in  the  Cowslip;  but  here,  the  Cowslip  would 
have  the  merit  of  rareness.  The  ice-plant,  the 
egg  plant,  and  many  others,  have  oddity  to  re- 
commend them  ;  but,  after  all,  oddity  is  but  a 
poor  recommendation.  What  are  thousands  of 
these  when  compared  to  a  single  rose  bush  in 
bloom  ! 

98.  I  am  rather  anticipating  here;  but,  I 
wished  to  explain  why  I  do  not  recommend  any 
very  great  pains  in  the  affair  of  a  green-house. 
The  plants  to  keep  in  such  a  place  I  will  talk  of 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  59 

hereafter.     At  present  I  am  to  speak   of   the 
making  and  the  managing  of  such  a  place. 

99.  A  green-house  is  for  the  purpose  of  ha- 
ving plants  and  flowers  flourishing,  or  at  least,  in 
verdure  and  in  bloom  in  winter.  The  best  place 
for  a  green-house,  is,  near  the  dwelling  house, 
and,  it  should  be  actually  joined  to  the  dwelling 
house,  one  of  the  rooms  of  which  should  have 
windows  looking  into  the  green-house,  which  lat- 
ter, however,  must  face  the  South.  When  the 
thing  can  be  thus  contrived,  it  is  very  pretty. 
It  renders  a  long  winter  shorter  in  appearance  ; 
and,  in  such  cases,  appearances  are  realities.  A 
door,  opening  from  a  parlour  into  a  green-house, 
makes  the  thing  very  pleasant ;  and  especially 
in  a  country  like  America,  where,  for  six  months, 
every  thing  like  verdure  is  completely  absent 
from  the  fields  and  gardens.  And,  if  the  ex- 
pense be  but  small,  such  a  pleasure  may,  surely, 
be  afforded  to  the  females  of  a  family,  though,  to 
afford  it,  may  demand  some  deduction  in  the  ex- 
penditure for  the  bottle,  in  the  pleasures  of  which 
(if,  alas!  pleasures  they  be!)  the  amiable  ladies 
of  this  country  do  not  partake. 

100.  I  hope,  that  no  man,  who  has  the  means 
to  provide  such  pleasures  for  his  wife,  or  daugh- 
ters, will  talk  to  me  about  the  useless ness  of  a 
green-house.  Of  what  use  then  is  fine  linen, 
when  coarse  is  cheaper  and  will  last  longer !  Of 
what  use  is  beauty  in  a  horse \  a  house,  or  in  any 
thing  else?  Of  what  use  are  sporting  dogs  and 
guns  ?  The  use  of  these  things,  is,  that  they 
give  pleasure  ;  that  they  render  life  pleasanter 
than  it  would  be  without  them.  And,  why  not, 
on  the  same  principle,  call  a  green-bouse  useful  ? 


60  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

Of  what  use  is  money,  that  thing  which  every- 
one seeks  to  possess  ?  Of  what  use  indeed,  but 
to  be  expended  on  things,  which  tend  to  make 
life  easy  and  pleasant?  Therefore,  a  green- 
house conies  fairly  within  the  scope  of  useful- 
ness ;  for,  from  it  the  females  of  a  family  would 
receive  constant  amusement  and  delight,  during 
a  season  when  they  are  cut  off  from  almost  all 
other   recreation. 

101.  Let  me  not,  however,  in  using  these  ar- 
guments, be  supposed  to  doubt  of  the  disposition 
of  American  husbands  to  gratify  their  wives  in 
this  respect  ;  for,  many  and  striking  as  are  the 
traits,  that  distinguish  the  American  character, 
none  is  so  striking,  and  none  exalts  it  so  much, 
as  the  respect  and  deference  of  the  male  towards 
the  female  sex.  They  talk  to  us  about  French 
■Politeness ;  and  we  hear  enough  of  the  senti- 
mental trash  of  romances,  where  Princes  and 
Nobles  are  the  heroes.  But,  in  no  part  of  this 
whole  world  are  the  women  so  kindly  and  so  res- 
pectfully treated  by  the  men  as  in  America. 
Here  women,  in  no  state  of  life,  are  treated  badly 
or  churlishly.  To  insure  indulgence,  assistance, 
forbearance,  from  every  man,  and  under  any 
circumstances,  it  is  sufficient  that  the  party  is  a 
woman.  In  this  respect  no  country  on  earth  will 
bear  a  comparison  with  America.  This  is,  too, 
the  natural  bent  of  the  human  heart  when  un- 
corrupted  by  vicious  courses  and  underhanded 
by  penury.  For,  count  our  real  pleasures ;  count 
the  things  that  delight  us  through  life  ;  and  you 
will  find,  that  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred 
are  derived  from  women.  To  be  the  object  of 
no  woman's  care   or  good  wishes  is  a  sentence 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  61 

the  most  severe  that  can  be  pronounced  upon 
man. 

102.  As  to  the  erection  of  a  green-house,  car- 

E  enters  and  glaziers  are  never  wanted,  and,  where 
ocust  wood,  for  the  sills,  is  every  where  to  be 
had,  and  glass  with  scarcely  any  tax,  how  ele- 
gant, how  cheap,  and  how  durable,  may  such  a 
thing  as  a  green-house  be  ! 

103.  In  America  there  must  be  heat  ;  but,  how 
easily  will  any  of  the  ingenious  men  in  this  coun- 
try find  the  means  of  furnishing  the  necessary 
heat  with  hardly  any  expense  or  trouble  •  In  most 
cases  the  warmth  might  go  from  the  parlour  fire 
place ;  for,  all  that  is  wanted  is  complete  ty  to  keep, 
out  frost.  There  is,  here,  no  want  of  Sun  even 
in  the  coldest  weather ;  and,  if  the  green-house 
were  on"  the  Eastern  side  of  the  dwelling-house, 
the  cold  would  not  be  any  great  annoyance. 
But,  at  any  rate,  the  heat  necessary  to  keep  out 
frost  might  easily  be  obtained.  A  Thermometer 
should  be  kept  in  the  green-house.  The  heat 
should  be  about  sixty  degrees  in  the  day  time, 
and  forty-five  in  the  night. 

104.  In  England  they  need  very  little  fire  in 
their  green-houses,  except  in  very  cold  weather, 
which,  indeed,  they  seldom  have.  Their  great 
want  is  that  of  sun  ;  for,  nothing  will  do  well 
without  sun ;  and  America  has  plenty  of  this 
even  in  the  coldest  weather.  So  that,  if  the  frost 
were  effectually  kept  out,  that  alone  would  give 
beautiful  plants  in  winter.  By  an  additional 
heat,  a  growth  and  a  bloom  would  be  constantly 
kept  up  ;  and  a  green-house  might  be  made  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  most  pleasant  things  in 
'he  world. 

6 


62  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

105.  Of  the  different  plants  suitable  for  a 
green-house,  and  of  the  particular  treatment  of 
each,  I  shall  speak  under  the  head  of  Flowers  ; 
and  shall,  in  this  place,  only  add  some  directions 
as  to  management,  which  are  applicable  to  the 
whole  assemblage. 

106.  Air  is  the  main  thing,  after  the  keeping 
out  of  the  frost.  Air  is  given  by  pushing  up,  or 
drawing  down,  the  Lights,  which  form  the  top 
or  roof  of  the  green-house.  Always  give  air 
when  there  is  no  fear  of  frost.  Give  heat  and 
air  at  the  same  time,  if  the  weather  be  not  mild 
enough  to  dispense  with  the  heat.  For  without 
air,  the  plants  will  become  sickly.  They  have 
lungs  as  well  as  we ;  and,  though  they  may  live, 
for  a  while,  without  aii%  they  will  be  an  eye-sore 
instead  of  a  delight  to  the  beholder.  If  the  sides 
and  fro?it,  as  well  as  the  top  of  the  green-house, 
be  ot  glass,  (which  is  best,)  then  air  may  be  gi- 
ven there,  instead  of  giving  it  by  pushing  up, 
or  pulling  down,  the  lights  at  top. 

107.  The  plants,  of  whatever  sort  or  size, 
must  be  in  what  the  English  call  pots,  and  what 
the  Americans  call  jars.  Perhaps  I  may  as  well 
speak,  once  for  all,  about  the  shape  and  size,  and 
manner  of  planting  in,  these  pots.  The  shape  is 
generally  well  known  ;  but,  the  pots  ought  never 
to  be  glazed.  Plain  earthen  pots  are  best  as  well 
as  cheapest.  There  must  be  a  hole  in  the  middle 
of  the  bottom  of  every  pot,  or  no  plant  will  live 
in  it  for  any  considerable  length  of  time,  and  will 
never  grow  in  it  at  all.  This  hole  should  be  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  the  pot ;  and  the  pots 
may  be  from  4  inches  to  18  inches  over  at  top., 
and  from  4  inches  to  18  inches  deep ;  being  one 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  63 

third  less  across  at  bottom  than  at  the  top.  The 
smallest  hole  ought  to  be  of  the  size  of  half  a 
dollar. 

108.  Besides  the  pot,  there  is  what  the  Eng- 
lish call  a  pan,  for  the  pot  to  stand  in,  which 
should  be  about  2  inches  deep,  and  as  wide  over 
as  the  top  of  the  pot,  and,  of  course,  a  third 
part  wider  than  the  bottom  of  the  pot.  This  pan 
should  be  made  of  the  same  materials  with  the 
pot  itself. 

109.  I  have,  in  paragraph  21,  mentioned,  in- 
cidentally, wooden  boxes,  as  things  wherein  to 
place  plants ;  but,  I  must  here  caution  the  reader 
against  the  practice,  wherever  it  can  be  avoided, 
especially  for  small  plants.  We  see  plants,  thus 
cultivated,  placed  on  window  sills;  and  they 
sometimes  grow  there  pretty  well.  Orange  Trees, 
Large  Myrtles,  and  other  large  exotics  are  planted 
in  tubs.  There  would  be  great  difficulty  in  get- 
ting earthen  things  of  sufficient  dimensions  for 
these  purposes ;  besides  the  constant  danger  of 
breaking.  But,  I  am  quite  satisfied,  that  where 
earthenware  can  be  got  and  used,  it  is  greatly 
preferable  to  wood ;  and  this  opinion  is  founded 
on  actual  experience.  In  my  hot-bed  of  1819,1 
sowed  several  sorts  of  seeds  in  little  wooden  boxes. 
I  had  no  pots  at  hand,  and  to  get  them  from  New- 
York  required  more  time  than  1  was  willing  to 
spare.  The  seeds  all  came  up ;  but,  by  the  time 
that  they  were  an  inch  or  two  high,  they  rotted 
at  the  stem,  and  fell  down.  There  were  not  less 
than  twenty  sorts  of  seeds;  some  of*  culinary  ve- 
getables, some  of  field-plants,  and  some  of  forest- 
trees.  They  all  died.  In  one  box  there  were 
planted   some    geranium-cuttings.     They  came 


64  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

out  into  bud  and  leaf ;  but  died  soon  afterwards. 
I  had  soon  afterwards  got  some  pots.  I  repeated 
my  sowing  and  planting  ;  all  the  seeds  and  plants 
grew  and  flourished.  And,  let  it  be  observed, 
that  the  boxes  stood  in  the  same  bed,  where  cab- 
bages and  cauliflowers  were  sown  without  either 
pots  or  boxes  ;  and  that  the  plants  of  these  grew, 
and  flourished  exceedingly.  The  cause  of  the 
plants  rotting  in  the  boxes  was  this ;  though  there 
were  several  holes  at  the  bottom  of  each  box,  and 
though  these  were  properly  covered  with  oyster- 
shells,  the  wood  itself i  sides  as  well  as  bottom, 
imbibed  and  retained  too  long,  part  of  the  water 
poured  on  the  top,  and,  as  the  boxes  were  plunged 
into  the  earth  of  the  bed,  they  imbibed  moisture 
from  the  watering  of  the  bed  also.  There  was 
constantly  stagnant  and  sour  water  near  the  roots 
of  the  plants,  and  this  killed  them.  These  boxe9 
"were  of  deal.  If  tubs,  or  boxes  must  be  resorted 
to,  they  ought  to  be  of  Locust,  or  some  other 
hard  and  close  wood.  Locust  is  best,  because 
imperishable.    See  paragraph,  16. 

110.  Some  care  is  necessary  in  sowing  and 
planting  in  pots.  The  mould  should  be  good* 
and  made  very  line.  The  first  thing  is  to  put  an 
mjster  shell,  or  piece  of  broken  earthen  ware,  in- 
to the  pot,  to  cover  the  hole  at  the  bottom  ;  and  the 
hollow  part  of  the  shell,  or  other  thing,  should 
be  downwards.  The  use  of  this  is,  to  keep  the 
hole  open,  that  the  water  may  find  its  way  out  of 
the  pot,  and  not  lie  stagnant  at  the  bottom,  where 
it  would  become  sour  and  injure,  if  not  kill,  the 
plant.  The  earth,  if  there  were  no  shell,  would 
fill  up  the  hole,  and,  would,  in  time,  become  solid, 
and  thus  prevent  the  water  from  getting  out.  The 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  65 

hell,  or  broken  earthen  ware,  the  earth  keeps 
hollow,  and  the  water  creeps  under  the  edges  of 
it,  and  thus  escapes  into  the  pan,  whence  it  eva- 
porates. In  fields,  we  always  desire  an  o/ien 
undersoil ;  and,  in  a  rainy  season,  you  will  see 
the  crops  stunted  and  looking  yellow,  where  there 
is  a  bottom  of  clay,  while,  at  the  very  same  time, 
a  bottom  of  sand,  gravel,  lime  stone,  or  other 
open  matter,  exhibits  them  green  and  flourishing. 
It  is  upon  this  principle,  founded  on  experience, 
that  holes  have  been  made  in  the  bottom  of 
flower-pots.  The  uses  of  pans  are,  first,  to  pre- 
vent the  water  from  running  about  the  places 
where  pots  are  placed ;  and  next  to  hold  the  water 
up  to  a  level  with  the  roots,  in  hot  situations,  a 
little  longer  than  it  would  otherwise  remain  up 
to  that  level.     See  paragraph  21. 

111.  As  to  the  mere  operation  of  sowing,  of 
planting,  things  in  pots,  though  a  simple  opera- 
tion enough,  some  little  attention  to  method  is 
necessary.  Your  mould  always  ought  to  be  fine, 
and  even  sifted,  if  convenient  ;  for,  when  the 
quantity  is  to  be  reckoned  by  gallons,  the  la- 
bour cannot  be  great;  and,  the  desire  to  possess 
green-house  plants  necessarily  implies  pleasure, 
rather  than  pain,  in  employing  the  means  to  ob- 
tain them.  In  order  to  make  myself  clearly  un- 
derstood, I  shall  suppose  an  instance  of  sowing 
and  one  of  planting. 

112.  Suppose  you  have  the  seeds  of  Stocks  to 
sow.  Put  earth  into  the  pot  enough  to  fill  it  to 
within  an  inch  of  the  top,  and  make  the  top 
of  the  earth  very  smooth.  Then  scatter  your 
seeds  upon  it,  and  not  too  thickly.  Then  crumble 
som "  earth  over  the  seeds  to  the  depth  of  about 

6**  \ 


u 


66  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

half  an  inch.  Make  the  top  very  smooth  again. 
Then  take  the  pot  in  your  two  hands,  and  give  five 
or  six  ge?itle  taps  with  the  bottom  of  the  pot  ufion 
the  ground,  or  upon  a  block,  or  some  solid  thing. 
t)lYi\s  settles  the  earth  down;  and  it  needs  no  press- 
ing at  the  top,  nor  any  other  thing  done  to  it. 
After  this  settling,  the  top  of  the  earth  should  be 
about  an  inch  lower  than  the  top  of  the  pot ;  else 
you  could  not,  when  necessary,  give  water;  for 
the  water  would  run  off,  there  being  no  place  to 
hold  it. 

113.  Suppose  you  have  a  Geranium  to  plant, 
which  has  been  raised  from  a  cutting,  and  the  root 
of  which  cannot  be  very  large.  Put  some  earth 
in  the  pot.  Hold  the  root  of  plant  upon  it  to  see 
that  it  will  be  of  the  right  dejith,  if  its  root  stand 
on  that  earth.  Then,  when  you  have  got  the 
earth  to  the  right  height,  hold  the  plant  with  one 
hand,  and  fill  up  the  pot,  round  the  plant,  with 
the  other.  Then,  tap  the  bottom  of  the  pot  on 
some  solid  thing,  as  before  mentioned,  leaving  the 
earth,  as  before,  an  inch  lower  than  the  top  of 
the  pot.  Put  the  pot  in  the  pan;  and,  in  this 
case,  water  the  plants  moderately;  for,  observe, 
that  a  plant  in  a  pot  has  not  an  under-soil  and, 
dews  and  a  mass  of  fermenting  earth  to  supply 
it  with  moisture,  as  a  plant  in  the  open  air  has. 
Yet,  even  in  the  case  of  pots,  it  is  best,  unless 
the  plant  be  of  a  very  juicy  nature,  to  suffer  the 
ground  to  get  dry  at  toji  before  you  water ;  be- 
cause, water  falling  upon  freshly-moved  earth, 
always  makes  it  bake  hard  at  top,  which  is  ve- 
ry injurious  to  every  kind  of  plant. 

114.  These  two  instances  will  suffice  for  the 
operation  of  sowing  and  planting  in  pots ;   for . 


AMERICAN  QARDENER.  67 

though  some  seeds  and  some  plants 'will  be  larger, 
or  smaller,  than  those  here  mentioned,  the  princi- 
ple is  the  same,  and  the  difference  in  minute  par- 
ticulars will  point  itself  out.  If,  for  instance, 
you  have  stocks,  or  other  little  things,  to  trans- 
plant into  pots,  you  will  nearly  fill  the  pot  with 
earth,  and  then  make  holes  with  a  little  stick, 
or  with  a  finger,  to  put  in  the  roots ;  and  then 
proceed  as  before,  and  settle  down  the  earth. 
Such  little  things,  being  nearly  all  juice,  will  re- 
quire water  directly,  and  shading  for  a  day  or 
two.  But,  about  these  matters  I  shall  say  more 
by-and-by,  when  I  come  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
several   sorts  ot  plants  and  flowers. 

115.  The  benches  of  the  green-house  remain 
to  be  spoken  of.  They  should  rise  one  above 
another,  like  the  steps  of  a  stairs,  that  the  whole 
of  the  plants  may  share  in  the  benefit  bestowed 
by  the  sun  ;  but,  there  may  be  some  on  the 
ground,  or  floor;  and,  indeed,  the  precise  ar- 
rangement must  be  left  to  the  taste  of  the  owner. 
The  arrangement  ought,  however,  to  be  such  as 
to  make  it  convenient  to  get  at  every  pot;  not 
only  for  the  purpose  of  watering,  but  for  that  of 
picking  off  the  dead,  or  dying  leaves  ;  for  that  of 
stirring  the  earth  frequently  round  the  stems  of 
the  plants ;  and  for  that  of  sweeping,  and  even 
washing,  the  benches  and  the  floor.  For,  let  it 
be  observed,  that  besides  the  neatness  of  keep- 
ing, due  to  so  choice  and  elegant  a  matter  as  a 
green-house,  cleanliness  is  greatly  conducive  to 
the  health  of  plants  in  a  confined  situation.  In 
short,  it  is  beauty  that  is  here  sought ;  and,  can 
there  be  beauty  without  cleanliness  ? 


68  AiMERICAN  GARDENER. 

116.  In  the  month  of  June  (Long  Island,  ob- 
serve) the  plants  come  out  of  this  their  winter 
abode.  How  they  are  then  to  be  disposed  of 
will  be  treated  of  hereafter,  under  the  head  of 
flowers ;  where  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  green- 
house, besides  being  a  most  charming  object  in 
winter,  when  all  without  is  dreariness,  is  the  best 
security  for  giving  you  a  beautiful  garden  in 
iummer ;  and  that  without  a  green-house,  or,  at 
least,  a  hot-bed,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  have  in 
perfection,  either  in  America  or  in  England, 
certain  plants  and  flowers,  some  of  which  are 
the  very  greatest  beauties  of  the  beautiful  family 
of  Flora. 

117,  Nor  must  we  forget  some  things,  with 
regard  to  which  a  green-house  would  be  of  great 
use,  even  according  to  the  most  vulgar  notions 
of  utility.  All  sorts  of  Herbs  might  be  potted, 
and  kept  green  and  growing  in  the  green-house 
during  the  winter.  Some  Herbs  dry  well ;  but, 
none  of  them  are  quite  so  good  as  when  green  ; 
and,  as  to  Parsley,  which  is  wanted  almost 
every  day  in  the  year,  it  loses  all  its  virtue  in 
the  drying,  smell  and  all.  Six  large  pots  of 
parsley,  the  plants  taken  out  of  the  ground  and 
put  in  pots  in  September,  and  put  into  the  green- 
house in  November,  will  supply  a  large  family 
well;  and  this  is  no  trifling  thing,  when,  for 
love  or  money,  a  sprig  of  parsley  is  not  to  be  got 
for  months.  A  Sage  tree,  a  tree  of  Rue,  one  of 
Rosemary,  one  of  Lavender,  a  root  of  Hyssop, 
Thyme,  Penny-royal,  some  Mint,  and,  indeed, 
of  every  pot  and  medicinal  Herb,  that  is  usually 
grown  in  the  garden,  would  be  useful,  as  well  as 
pleasant  to  the  eye,  during  winter, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  69 

118.  Even  when  the  plants  are  out  of  the 
green-house,  the  latter  is  of  use.  An  excellent 
place  for  the  drying  of  cherries ,  apples ,  pears, 
quinces,  peaches,  and  other  fruits ;  and  also  for 
the  drying  of  yeast-cakes,  one  of  the  most  useful 
articles  that  sensible  and  provident  house-wives 
ever  invented. 

119.  All  this  work  of  drying  can,  indeed,  be 
performed  by  the  help  of  the  fine  hot  sun,  in  the 
open  air;  but  then,  wet  days  come;  and,  some- 
times they  being  compelled  to  take  the  things  into 
the  house,  to  place  them  in  a  confined  space,  and 
in  the  shade,  at  best,  and  away  from  strong  light, 
greatly  injures,  and,  sometimes,  spoils,  them ; 
and,  at  any  rate,  they  must  always  be  taken  in 
at  night  and  put  out  again  in  the  day  time.  All 
these  are  impediments;  and  all  these  impediments 
would  be,  at  once,  removed  by  having  a  green- 
house. Once  the  articles  were  placed  properly 
in  that,  the  process  of  drying  would  be  completed 
without  more  trouble,  and  in  about  half  the  time 
required  to  obtain  even  an  imperfect  operation  in 
the  open  air. 

120.  For  these  purposes,  too,  only  on  a  smaller 
scale,  a  hot-bed  frame,  when  done  with  for  rais- 
ing plants  for  the  year,  would  be  useful.  The 
frame  and  lights  might  be  placed  upon  boards, 
and  the  fruits,  or  cakes,  put  upon  these  boards. 
Being  shut  in,  neither  rains  nor  dews  could  affect 
them.  They  would  be  dried  quicker,  more  effec 
tually,  and  with  a  tenth  part  of  the  trouble  that 
attends  the  drying  in  the  open  air. 

121.  Thus,  then,  I  think,  that  there  is  use, 
even  in  the  vulgar  sense  of  the  word,  as  well  as 
ornament,  in    a  geeen-house.    But,  I  must  con- 


TO  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

fess,  that  its  value  in  my  eyes,  consists  in  its 
moral  effects.  It  is  a  source  of  pleasure  to  the 
Mistress  of  the  mansion ;  to  her,  who  has  so 
strong  a  claim  to  attention  and  indulgence.  I 
will  nut  praise  pursuits  like  these,  with  Lord 
Bacon,  because,  "  God  Almighty  first  planted  a 
garden  ;"  nor  with  Cowley,  because  "a  garden 
is  like  Heaven;"  nor  with  Addison,  because  "  a 
garden  was  the  habitation  of  our  first  parents 
before  the  fall ;"  all  which  is  rather  far-fetched, 
and  puts  one  in  mind  of  the  grave  dispute  between 
the  Gardeners  and  lailors^  as  to  the  antiquity  of 
their  respective  callings ;  the  former  contending 
that  the  planting  of  the  garden  took  place  before 
the  sewing  of  the  fig-leaves  together ;  and,  the 
latter  contending,  that  there  was  no  gardening  at 
all,  till  Adam  was  expelled  and  compelled  to 
work  ;  but,  that  the  sewing  was  a  real  and  bona 
fide  act  of  tailoring.  This  is  vulgar  work  to  be 
sure  ;  it  is  grovelling  ;  but,  who  can  blame  such 
persons,  when  they  have  Lord  Bacon  to  furnish 
them  with  a  precedent  ? 

122.  I  like,  a  great  deal  better  than  these 
writers,  Sir  William,  who  so  ardently  and  yet 
so  rationally  and  unaffectedly  praises  the  pursuits 
of  gardening,  in  which  he  delighted  from  his 
youth  to  his  old  age.  But,  I  look  still  further, 
as  to  effects.  There  must  be  amusements  in  every 
family.  Children  observe  and  follow  their  pa- 
rents in  almost  every  thing.  How  much  better, 
during  a  long  and  dreary  winter,  for  daughters, 
and  even  sons,  to  assist,  or  attend,  their  mother 
in  a  green-house,  than  to  be  seated  with  her  at 
cards ,  or  at  any  other  amusement  that  can  be 
conceived!      How    much  more   innocent,  more 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  71 

pleasant,  more  free  from  temptation  to  evil, 
this  amusement  than  any  other  !  How  much 
more  instructive  too !  "  Bend  the  twig  when 
young:"  but,  here,  there  needs  no  force ;  nay, 
not  even  persuasion.  The  thing  is  so  pleasant 
in  itself;  it  so  naturally  meets  the  wishes  ;  that 
the  taste  is  fixed  at  once,  and  it  remains,  to 
the  exclusion  of  cards  and  dice,  to  the  end  of 
life. 

123.  This  is,  with  me,  far  more  than  sufficient 
to  outweigh  even  a  plausible  objection  on  the 
score  of  expense.  Such  husbands  and  fathers  as 
are  accessible  by  arguments  like  these,  will  need 
nothing  more  to  induce  them  to  yield  to  my  re- 
commendation :  with  such  as  are  not,  no  argu- 
ments within  the  reach  of  my  capacity  would  be 
;f  any  avail. 


CHAPTER  III. 

On  Propagation  and  Cultivation  in  general, 

124.  In  order  to  have  good  Vegetables,  Herbs, 
Fruits,  and  Flowers,  we  must  be  careful  and 
diligent  in  the  Propagation  and  Cultivation  of  the 
several  plants;  for,  though  nature  does  much, 
she  will  not  do  all.  He,  who  trusts  to  chance 
for  a  crop,  deserves  none,  and  he  generally  has 
what  he  deserves. 

125.  The  Propagation  of  plants  is  the  bring- 
ing  of  them  forth,  or  the  increasing  and  multifily 
of  them.  This  is  effected  in  several  different 
ways :  by  seed,  by  suckers,  by  offsets,  by  layers, 


72  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

by  cuttings.  But,  bear  in  mind,  that  all  plants, 
from  the  ftadish  \&  the  Oa  may  be  propagated 
by  the  means  of  see d;  while  there  are  many  plants 
which  can  be  propagated  by  no  other  means  ;  and, 
of  these  the  Radish  and  the  Oak  are  two.  Let 
me  just  qualify,  here,  by  observing,  that  I  enter 
not  into  the  deep  question  (which  so  many  have 
puzzled  their  heads  with)  of  equivocal  generation* 
I  confine  myself  to  things  of  which  we  have  a 
certain  knowledge. 

With  regard  to  Propagation  by  means  other 
than  that  of  seed,  I  shall  speak  of  it  fully  enough 
under  the  names  of  the  several  plants,  which  are, 
as  to  the  way  ot  propagating  them,  to  be  con- 
sidered as  exceptions  to  the  general  rule.  There- 
fore, I  shall,  in  the  present  Chapter,  treat  of  pro- 
pagation by  seed  only. 

126.  Cultivation  must,  of  course,  differ,  in 
some  respects,  to  suit  itself  to  certain  differences 
in  the  plants  to  be  cultivated ;  but,  there  are  some 
principles  and  rules,  which  apply  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  all  plants;  and  it  is  of  these  only  that  I 
propose  to  speak  in  the  present  Chapter. 

127  It  is  quite  useless,  indeed  it  is  grossly 
absurd,  to  prepare  land  and  to  incur  trouble  and 
expense  without  duly,  and  even  -very  carefully, 
attending  to  the  seed  that  we  are  going  to  sow. 
The  sort,  the  genuineness,  the  sou?idness,  are  all 
matters  to  be  attended  to,  if  we  mean  to  avoid 
mortification  and  loss.  Therefore,  the  first  thing 
is,   the 

SORT  OF  SEED. 

128.  We  should  make  sure  here  ;  for,  what  a 
■loss  to  have  late  cabbages  iustead  of  early  ones  ! 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  7$ 

As  to  beans,  peas,  and  many  other  things,  there 
cannot  easily  be  mistake  or  deception.  But,  as 
to  cabbages,  cauliflowers,  turnips,  radishes,  let- 
tuces, onions,  leeks,  and  numerous  others,  the 
eye  is  no  guide  at  all.  If,  therefore,  you  do  not 
save  your  own  seed  (of  the  manner  of  doing  which 
I  shall  speak  by  and  by,)  you  ought  to  be  very 
carefuf  as  to  whom  you  purchase  of;  and,  though 
the  seller  be  a  person  of  perfect  probity,  he  may 
be  deceived  himself.  If  you  do  not  save  your 
own  seed,  which,  as  will  be  seen,  cannot  always 
be  done  with  safety,  all  you  can  do,  is,  to  take 
every  precaution  in  your  power  when  you  pur- 
chase. Be  very  particular,  very  full  and  clear, 
in  the  order  you  give  for  seed.  Know  the  seeds- 
man well,  if  possible.  Speak  to  him  yourself, 
on  the  subject,  if  you  can ;  and,  in  short,  take 
every  precaution  in  your  power,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  mortifications  like  those  of  having  one  sort  of 
cabbage,  when  you  expected  another,  and  of 
having  rape  when  you  expected  turnips  or  ruta 
baga. 

TRUE  SEED. 

129.  But,  besides  the  kind,  there  is  the  gen* 
uinene8s  to  be  considered.  For  instance,  you 
want  sugar-loaf  cabbage.  The  seed  you  sow 
may  be  cabbage :  it  may,  too,  be  sugar-loaf,  or 
more  that  than  any  thing  else :  but,  still,  it  may 
not  be  true  to  its  kind.  It  may  have  become 
degenerate ;  it  may  have  become  mixed,  or  crossed^ 
in  generating.  And  thus,  the  plants  may  very 
much  disappoint  you.  True  seed  is  a  great 
thing;  for,  not  only  the  time  of  the  crop  coming 
in  ;  but  the  quantity  and  quality  of  it  greatly  de- 
7 


74  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

pend  upon  the  trueness  of  the  seed.  You  have 
plants,  to  be  sure ;  that  is  to  say,  you  will  have 
something  grow  ;  but  you  will  not,  if  the  seed  be 
not  true,  ha\e  the  thing  you  want. 

130.  To  insure  truth  in  seed,  you  must,  if  you 
purchase,  take  all  the  precautions  recommended 
as  to  sort  of  seed.  It  will  be  seen  presently,  that, 
to  save  true  seed  yourself,  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
matte?'.  And,  therefore,  you  mu9t  sometimes 
purchase.  Find  a  seedsman  that  does  not  deceive 
you,  and  stick  to  him.  But,  observe,  that  no 
seedsman  can  always  be  sure.  He  cannot  raise 
all  his  seeds  himself.  He  must  trust  to  others. 
Of  course,  he  may,  himself,  be  deceived.  Some 
kinds  of  seed  will  keep  a  good  many  years ;  and, 
therefore,  when  you  find,  that  you  have  got  some 
very  true  seed  of  any  sort,  get  some  m®re  of  it ; 
get  as  much  as  will  last  you  for  the  number  of 
years  that  such  seed  will  keep;  and,  to  know 
how  many  years  the  seeds  of  vegetables  and 
herbs  will  keep,  see  paragraph  150. 

SOUNDNESS  OF  SEED. 

131.  Seed  may  be  of  the  right  sort ;  it  maybe 
true  to  its  sort ;  and,  yet,  if  it  be  u?isoundi  it  will 
not  grow,  and,  ©f  course,  is  a  great  deal  worse 
than  useless,  because  the  sowing  of  it  occasions 
loss  of  time,  loss  of  cost  of  seed,  loss  of  use  of 
land,  and  loss  of  labour,  to  say  nothing  about  the 
disappointment  and  mortification.  Here,  again, 
if  you  purchase,  you  must  rely  on  the  seedsman  ; 
and,  therefore,  all  the  aforementioned  precautions 
are  necessary  as  to  this  point  also.  In  this  case 
(especially  if  the  sowing  be  exteasiva)  the  injury 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  75 

may  be  very  great ;  and,  there  is  no  redress.  If  a 
man  sell  you  one  sort  of  seed  for  another  ;  01%  if 
he  sell  you  untrue  seed  ;  the  law  will  give  you  re- 
dress to  the  full  extent  of  the  injury  proved;  and 
the  proof  can  be  produced.  But,  if  the  seed  does 
not  come  up,  what  proof  have  you!  You  may 
prove  the  sowing  ;  but,  who  is  to  prove,  that  the 
seed  was  not  chilled  or  scorched,  in  the  ground? 
That  it  was  not  eaten  by  insects  there  ?  That  it 
was  not  destroyed  in  coming  up,  or  in  germina- 
ting ? 

132.  There  are,  however,  means  of  ascertain* 
Ing,  whether  seed  be  sound,  or  not,  before  you 
sow  it  in  the  ground.  I  know  of  no  seed,  which, 
if  sound  and  really  good,  will  not  sink  in  water. 
The  unsoundness  of  seed  arises  from  several 
causes.  Unripeness,  blight,  mouldiness,  and  age% 
are  the  most  frequent  of  these  causes.  The  two 
first,  if  excessive,  prevent  the  seed  from  ever 
having  the  germinating  quality  in  them.  Mouldi- 
ness arises  from  the  seed  being  kept  in  a  damp 
place,  or  from  its  having  heated.  When  dried 
again  it  becomes  light.  Age  will  cause  the  germi- 
nating quality  to  evaporate;  though,  where  there 
Is  a  great  proportion  of  oil  in  the  seed,  this  quality 
will  remain  in  it  for  many  years,  as  will  be  seen 
in  Paragraph  150. 

133.  The  way  to  try  seed  is  this.  Put  a  small 
quantity  of  it  in  luke-warm  water,  and  let  the 
water  be  four  or  five  inches  deep.  A  mug,  or 
basin,  will  do,  but  a  large  tumbler  glass  is  best ; 
for  then  you  can  see  the  bottom  as  well  as  top. 
Some  seeds,  such  as  those  of  cabbage,  radish, 
and  turnip,  will,  if  good,  go  to  the  bottom  at 
ence.    Cucumber*  Melon,  Lettuce,  Endive,  and 


76  AMERICANGARDENER. 

many  others,  require  a  few  minutes.  Parsnip 
and  Carrot,  and  all  the  winged  seeds,  require  to 
be  worked  by  your  fingers  in  a  little  water,  and 
well  wetted,  before  you  put  them  into  the  glass ; 
and  the  carrot  should  be  rubbed,  so  as  to  get  off 
part  of  the  hairs,  which  would  otherwise  act  as 
the  feathers  do  as  to  a  duck.  The  seed  of  Beet 
and  Mangel  Wurzel  are  in  a  case  or  shell.  The 
rough  things  that  we  sow  are  not  the  seeds,  but 
the  cases  in  which  the  seeds  are  contained,  each 
ca*e  containing  from  one  to  five  seeds.  Therefore 
the  trial  by  water  is  not,  as  to  these  two  seeds, 
conclusive,  though,  if  the  seed  be  very  good ;  if 
there  be  four  or  five  in  a  case,  shell  and  all  will 
sink  in  water,  after  being  in  the  glass  an  hour. 
And,  as  it  is  a  matter  of  such  great  importance, 
that  every  seed  should  grow  in  a  case  where  the 
plants  stand  so  far  apart ;  as  gaps  in  rows  of  Beet 
and  Mangel  Wurzel  are  so  very  injurious,  the 
best  way  is  to  reject  all  seed  that  will  not  sink 
case  and  all,  after  being  put  into  warm  water  and 
remaining  there  an  hour. 

134.  But,  seeds  of  all  sorts,  are,  sometimes, 
if  not  always,  part  sound  and  part  unsound ;  and, 
as  the  former  is  not  to  be  rejected  on  account  of 
the  latter,  the  proportion  of  each  should  be  ascer- 
tained, if  a  separation  be  not  made.  Count  then 
a  hundred  seeds,  taken  promiscuously,  and  put 
them  into  water  as  before  directed.  If  fifty  sink 
and  fifty  swim,  half  your  seed  is  bad  and  half 
good ;  and  so,  in  proportion,  as  to  other  numbers 
of  sinkers  and  swimmers.  There  may  be  plants, 
the  sound  seeds  of  which  will  not  sink  ;  but  I  know 
of  none.  If  it  be  found  in  any  instance,  they 
would,  I  think,  be  found  in  those  of  the  Tulip-tree, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  77 

e  Ash,  the  Birch,  and  the  Parsnip,  all  of  which 
are  furnished  with  so  large  a  portion  of  wing.  Yet 
all  these,  if  soimd,  will  sink,  if  put  into  warm 
water,  with  the  wet  worked  a  little  into  the 
wings  first. 

135.  There  is,  however,  another  way  of  ascer- 
taining this  important  fact,  the  soundness,  or  un- 
soundness of  seed;  and  that  is,  by  sowing  the m. 
If  you  have  a  hot-bed ;  or,  if  not,  how  easy  to 
make  one  for  a  hand-glass  (see  Paragraph  94,) 
put  a  hundred  seeds,  taken  as  before  directed, 
sow  them  in  a  flower-pot,  and  plunge  the  pot  in 
the  earth,  under  the  glass,  in  the  hot-bed,  or  hand- 
glass. The  climate,  under  the  glass,  is  warm  ; 
and  a  very  few  days  will  tell  you  what  proportion 
of  your  seed  is  sound.  But  there  is  this  to  be 
said  ;  that,  with  strong  heat  under,  and  with  such 
complete  protection  above,  seeds,  may  come  ufi 
that  would  not  come  up  in  the  often  ground. 
There  maybe  enough  of  the  germinating  princi- 
ple to  cause  vegetation  in  a  hot-bed,  and  not 
enough  to  cause  it  in  the  open  air  and  cold  ground. 
Therefore  I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  we  should 
try  seeds  as  our  ancestors  tried  Witches ;  not  by 
fire,  but  by  water ;  and  that,  following  up  their 
practice,  we  should  reprobate  and  destroy  all 
that  do  not  readily  sink. 

SAVING  AND  PRESERVING  SEED. 

136.  This  is  a  most  important  branch  of  the 
Gardener's  business.  There  are  rules  applicable 
to  particular  plants.  Those  will  be  given  in  their 
proper  places.  It  is  my  business  here  to  speak 
of  such  as  are  aDplicable  to  all  plants. 

7* 


78  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

137.  First,  as  to  the  saving  of  seed,  the  truest 
plants  should  be  selected;  that  is  to  say,  such  as 
are  of  the  most  perfect  shafie  and  quality.  In 
the  Cabbage  we  seek  small  stem,  well-formed 
loaf,  few  spare,  or  loose,  leaves  ;  in  the  Turnip, 
large  bulb,  small  neck,  slender-stalked  leaves, 
solid  flesh,  or  pulp  ;  in  the  Raddish,  high  colour 
(if  red  or  scarlet,)  small  neck,  few  and  short 
leaves,  ana  long  top.  The  marks  of  perfection  are 
well  known,  and  none  but  perfect  plants  should 
be  saved  for  seed.  The  case  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent as  to  plants,  which  are  some  male  and 
others  female,  but,  these  present  exceptions  to  be 
noticed  under  the  names  of  such  plants. 

138.  Of  plants,  the  early  coming  of  which  is  a 
circumstance  of  importance,  the  very  earliest 
should  be  chosen  for  seed  ;  for,  they  will  almost 
aw  »ys  be  found  to  include  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection  in  other  respects.  They  should  have 
g;e.it  pains  taken  with  them  ;  the  soil  and  situa- 
tion should  be  good;  and  they  should  be  careful- 
ly cultivated,  during  the  time  that  they  are  car- 
rying on  their  seed  to  perfection. 

139.  But,  effectual  means  must  be  taken  to 
j  v  ent  a  mixing  of  the  sorts,  or,  to  speak  in  the 
language  of  farmers,  a  crossing  of  the  breeds. 
There  can  be  no  cross  between  the  sheep,  and 
the  dog :  but  there  can  be  between  the  dog  and 
tht  ivolf;  and,  we  daily  see  it,  between  Xhegrey- 
hoimd,  and  the  hound  ;  each  valuable  when  true 
to  his  kind;  and  across  between  the  two,  fit  for 
nothing  but  the  ro/ie :  a  word  which,  on  this  oc- 
casion, I  use,  in  preference  to  that  of  halter y  out 
of  respect  for  the  modern  laws  and  usages  of  my 
native  country. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  79 

140.  There  can  be  no  cross  between  a  cabbage 
and  a  carrot ;  but  there  can  be,  between  a  cab- 
bage and  a  turnifi  ;  between  a  cabbage  and  a 
cauliflower  nothing  is  more  common  ;  and,  as  to 
the  different  sorts  of  cabbages,  they  will  produce 
crosses,  presenting  twenty,  and  perhaps  a  thou- 
sand, degrees,  from  the  Early  York  to  the  Savoy. 
Turnips  will  mix  with  radishes  and  ruta-baga; 
all  these  with  rape  ;  the  result  wiU  mix  with  cab- 
bages and  cauliflowers ;  so  that,  if  nothing  were 
done  to  preserve  plants  true  to  their  kind,  our 
gardens  would  soon  present  us  with  little  besides 
mere  herbage. 

141.  As  to  the  causes  I  pretend  not  to  dive  into 
them.  As  to  the  "affectionate  feelings"  from 
which  the  effect  arises,  I  leave  that  to  those  who 
have  studied  the  "  loves  of  the  plants."  But,  as 
to  the  effect  itself  I  can  speak  positively  ;  for,  I 
have  now  on  the  table  before  me  an  ear  of  Indian 
Corn  having  in  it  grains  of  three  distinct  sorts  ; 
White  Corn,  that  is  to  say,  colour  of  bright 
rye-stravj  ;  Yellow-Corn,  that  is  to  say,  colour 
of  a  deep-coloured  orange  ;  Sweet  Corn,  that  is 
to  say,  colour  of  draby  and  deep-wrinkled,  while 
the  other  two  are  plump,  and  smooth  as  polished 
ivory.  The  filant  was  from  a  grain  of  White- 
Corn  ;  but,  there  were  Yellow,  and  Sweet,  grow- 
ing in  the  same  field,  though  neither  at  less  than 
three  hundred  yards  distant  from  the  white.  The 
whole,  or,  at  least,  the  greater  part,  of  the  White-* 
Corn  that  grew  in  the  patch  was  mixed  (some 
ears  more  and  some  less)  in  the  same  way  ;  and 
each  of  the  three  sorts  were  mixed  with  the  other 
two,  in  much  about  the  same  proportion  that  the 
White-Corn  was. 


80  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

142.  Here  we  have  the  different  sorts  assem 
bled  in  the  same  ear,  each  grain  retaining  all  its 
distinctive  marks,  and  all  the  qualities,  too,  that 
distinguish  it  from  the  other  two.  Sometimes, 
however,  the  mixture  takes  place  in  a  different 
way,  and  the  different  colours  present  themselves 
in  streaks  in  all  the  grains  of  the  ear,  rendering 
the  colour  of  the  grains  variegated  instead  of 
their  being  one-coloured. 

143.  It  is  very  well  known,  that  effects  like 
this  are  never  perceived,  unless  in  cases  where 
different  sorts  of  Indian  Corn  grow  at  no  great 
distance  from  each  other.  Probably,  too,  to  pro- 
duce this  intermixture,  the  plants  of  the  seve- 
ral sorts  must  be  all  of  the  same  age  ;  must  all  be 
equal  in  point  of  time  of  blowing  and  kerning. 
But,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  fact  of  intermixture 
is  certain ;  and,  we  have  only  to  know  the  fact  to 
be  induced  to  take  effectual  measures  to  provide 
against  it. 

144.  As  to  bees  carrying  the  matter,  and/m* 
pregnating  plants  with  it,  the  idea  appears  non- 
sensical ;  for,  how  comes  it  that  whole  fields  of 
Indian  Corn  are  thus  mixed?  And,  in  the  Indian 
Corn,  let  it  be  observed,  the  ear,  that  is  to  say, 
the  grain-btalfc,  is  at  about  four  feet  from  the 
ground,  while  the  Jiower  is,  perhaps,  eight  or  ten 
feet  from  the  ground  !  What,  then,  is  the  bee 
(which  visits  only  the  flower)  to  carry  the  matter 
to  the  flower,  and  is  the  flower  then  to  hand  it 
down  to  the  ear?  Oh,  no  !  this  is  much  too  clum- 
sy and  bungling  work  to  be  believed  in.  The 
effect  is,  doubtless,  produced  by  scent,  or  smell ; 
for,  observe,  the  ear  is  so  constructed,  and  is,  at 
this  season,  so  guarded,  so  completely  enveloped, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  81 

that  it  is  impossible  for  any  matter  whatever  to 
get  at  the  grain,  or  at  the  chest  of  the  grain, 
without  the  employment  of  mechanical  force . 

145.  Away,  then,  I  think  we  may  send  all  the 
nonsense  about  the  farina  of  the  male  flowers 
being  carried  to  the  female  flowers,  on  which  so 
much  has  been  said  and  written,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  which  erroneous  notion  gardeners,  in 
dear  Old  England,  have  spent  so  much  time  in 
assisting  Cucumbers  and  Melons  in  their  connu- 
bial intercourse.  To  men  of  plain  sense,  this  is 
Something  so  inconceivable,  that  I  am  afraid  to 
leave  the  statement  unsupported  by  proof  which, 
therefore,  I  shall  give  in  a  question  from  an 
English  work  on  Gardening  by  the  Rev.  Charles 
Marshall,  Vicar  of  Brix worth  in  Northampton- 
shire. "  Setting  the  fruit  is  the  practice  of  most 
"good  gardeners,  as  generally  insuring  the  em- 
"  bryos  from  going  off,  as  they  are  apt  to  do  at 
"  an  early  season,  when  not  much  wind  can  be 
"  suffered  to  enter  the.  bed,  and  no  bees  or  in- 
"  sects  are  about,  to  convey  the  farina  from  the 
"  male  flowers  to  the  female.  The  male  flowers 
"have  been  ignorantly  called  false  blossoms, 
"  and  so  have  been  regularly  pulled  off  (as  said) 
"  to  strengthen  the  plants ;  but  they  are  essential 
"  to  impregnate  the  female  flowers  ;  i.  e.  those 
"  that  shew  the  young  fruit  at  their  base :  This 
"  impregnation,  called  setting  the  fruit,  is  arti- 
"  ficially  done  thus:  as  soon  as  any  female  flowers 
"  are  fully  open,  gather  a  newly  opened  male 
"  flower,  and  stripping  the  leaf  gently  off  from 
"  the  middle,  take  nicely  hold  of  the  bottom,  and 
"  twirling  the  top  of  the  male  (reversed)  over  the 
"  centre  of  the  female  flower,  the  fine  fertilizing 


82  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

u  dust  from  the  male  part  will  fall  off,  and  adhere 
"  to  the  female  part,  and  fecundate  it,  causing 
"  the  fruit  to  keep  its  colour,  swell,  and  proceed 
"  fast  towards  perfection.  This  business  of  setting 
"  the  fruit  may  be  practised  through  the  months 
"  of  February,  March,  and  April,  but  afterwards 
"  it  will  not  be  necessary  ;  for  the  admission  of 
"  so  much  air  as  may  afterwards  be  given,  will 
"  disperse  the  farina  effectually  ;  but  if  the  wea- 
"  ther  still  is  bad,  or  remarkably  calm,  setting 
"  may  be  continued  a  little  longer.  If  short  of 
"  male  flowers,  one  of  them  may  sense  to  im/ireg* 
**  nate  two  females  /" 

146.  Lest  the  American  reader  should  be  dis- 
posed to  lament,  that  such  childish  work  as  this 
is  made  to  occupy  the  time  of  English  Gardeners, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  to  inform  him,  that  those  to 
whom  the  Reverend  Gentleman  recommends  the 
practising  of  these  mysteries,  have  plenty  of  beef 
and  pudding  and  beer  at  their  master's  expense, 
while  they  are  engaged  in  this  work  of  impreg- 
nation ;  and  that  their  own  living  by  no  means 
depends,  even  in  the  smallest  degree,  upon  the 
effect  of  the  application  of  this  "  fine  fertilizing 
"  dust.^  To  say  the  truth,  however,  there  is 
nothing  of  design  here,  on  the  part  of  the  gar- 
dener. He,  in  good  earnest,  believes,  that  this 
operation  is  useful  to  the  growth  of  the  fruit  of 
his  cucumber  plants ;  and,  how  is  he  to  believe 
otherwise,  when  he  sees  the  fact  gravely  taken 
for  granted  by  such  men  as  a  Clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England ! 

147.  Suffice  it,  now,  that  we  know,  that  sorts 
will  mix,  when  seed-plants  of  the  same  tribe  stand 
near  each  other;    and   we  ipay  easily    suppose, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER  83 


that  this  may  probably  take  place  though  the 
plants  stand  at  a  considerable  distance  apart, 
since  I  have,  in  the  case  of  my  Indian  Corn, 
given  proof  of  mixture,  when  the  plants  were 
three  hundred  yards  from  each  other.  What 
must  be  the  consequence,  then,  of  saving  seed 
from  cucumbers,  melons,  pumpkins,  squashes, 
and  gourds,  all  growing  in  the  same  garden  at 
the  same  time?  To  save  the  seed  of  two  sorts  of 
any  tribe,  in  the  same  garden*-  in  the  same  year, 
ought  not  to  be  attempted ;  and  this  it  is,  that 
makes  it  difficult  for  any  one  man  to  raise  all  sorts 
of  seeds  good  and  true. 

148.  However,  some  may  be  saved  by  everyone 
who  has  a  garden ;  and,  when  raised,  they  ought 
to  be  carefully  preserved.  They  are  best  pre- 
served in  the  food,  or  on  the  stalks.  Seeds  of 
many  sorts  will  be  perfectly  good  to  the  age  of 
eight  or  ten  years,  if  kept  in  the  pod  or  on  the 
stalks,  which  seeds,  if  threshed,  will  be  good  for 
little  at  the  end  of  three  years  or  less.  However, 
to  keep  seeds,  without  threshing  them  out,  is  sel- 
dom convenient,  often  impracticable,  and  always 
exposes  them  to  injury  from  mice  and  rats,  and 
from  various  other  enemies,  of  which,  however  the 
greatest  is  carelessness.  Therefore,  the  best  way 
is,  except  for  things  that  are  very  curious,  and 
that  lie  in  a  small  compass,  to  thresh  out  all 
seeds. 

149.  They  should  stand  till  perfectly  ri/ie,  if 
possible.  They  should  be  cut,  or  pulled,  or 
gathered,  when  it  is  dry ;  and,  they  should,  if 
possible,  be  dry  as  dry  can  be,  before  they  are 
threshed  out.  If,  when  threshed,  any  moisture 
itemain  about  them,  they  shoutfl  be  placed  in  the 


84 


AMERICAN  GARDENER. 


sun;  or,  near  a  fire  in  a  dry  room  ;  and,  when 
quite  dry,  should  be  put  into  bags,  and  hung  up 
against  a  very  dry  wall,  or  dry  boards,  where 
they  will  by  no  accident  get  damp..  The  best 
place  is  some  room,  or  place,  where  there  is, 
occasionally  at  leat,  ajlre  kept  in  winter. 

150.  Thus  preserved,  kept  from  ofien  air  and 
from  damfiy  the  seeds  of  -vegetables  will  keep 
sound  and  good  for  sowing  for  the  number  of  years 
stated  in  the  following  list;  to  which  the  reader 
will  particularly  attend.  Some  of  the  seeds  in 
this  list  will  keep,  sometimes,  a  year  longer,  if 
very  well  saved  and  very  well  preserved,  and  es- 
pecially if  closely  kept  from  exposure  to  the  open 
air.  But,  to  lose  a  croft  from  unsoundness  of 
seed  is  a  sad  thing,  and,  it  is  indeed,  negligence 
wholly  inexcusable  to  sow  seed  of  the  sound- 
ness of  which  we  are  not  certain. 


YEARS. 

YEARS. 

Artichoke     -    ■ 

■     -      3 

Caraway          -             4 

Asparagus 

-      4 

Carrot                            1 

Balm    - 

2 

Cauliflower    -        -    4 

Basil 

2 

Celery                          10 

Bean 

1 

Chervil                         6 

Bean  (Kidney) 

-     -  1 

Cives    -     -                   3 

Beet 

10 

Corn                              3 

Borage    - 

4 

Corn-Salad        -     -    2 

Brocoli 

4 

Coriander        -            3 

Burnet 

6 

Cress                             2 

Cabbage    -    - 

4 

Cucumber          *        10 

Calabash    - 

-      7 

Dandelion    -              10 

Cale 

-      4 

Dock            -         -       1 

Cale  (Sea)    - 

-      3 

Endive        -            -    4 

C  amomile 

-       2 

Fennel                           5 

Capsicum 

-       2 

Garlick        -        -       3 
(continued) 

AMERICAN  GARDENER. 


85 


YEARS. 

YEARS. 

Gourd 

10 

Radish 

2 

Hop        -     - 

2 

Rampion    - 

-       2 

Horse-Radish 

-  4 

Rape 

-     4 

Hyssop        -    - 

6 

Rhubarb 

-     -       1 

Jerusalem  Artichok 

e  3 

Rosemary 

3 

Lavender    - 

2 

Rue 

3 

Leek        -    - 

2 

Ruta-Baga 

4 

Lettuce 

3 

Salsify 

2 

Mangel  Wurzel    - 

10 

Samphire 

3 

Marjoram 

4 

Savory     - 

2 

Marigold 

3 

Scorzenera 

2 

Melon 

10 

Shalot 

4 

Mint 

4 

Skirret 

4 

Mustard     - 

4 

Sorrel 

7 

Nasturtium 

2 

Spinach 

4 

Onion 

2 

Squash 

10 

Parsley    -    - 

6 

Tansy 

-       3 

Parsnip 

1 

Tarragon 

-     4 

Pea 

1 

Thyme 

2 

Pennyroyal 

2 

Tomatum     - 

2 

Potato        * 

3 

Turnip 

-     4 

Pumpkin 

10 

Wormwood 

-    -     2 

Purslane 

2 

151.  Notwithstanding  this  list,  I  always  sow 
new  seed  in  preference  to  oldy  if,  in  all  other 
respects,  I  know  the  new  to  be  equal  to  the  old. 
And,  as  to  the  notion,  that  seeds  can  be  the  better 
for  being  old,  even  more  than  a  year  old,  I  hold 
it  to  be  monstrously  absurd:  and  this  opinion 
I  give  as  the  result  of  long  experience,  most 
attentive  observation,  and  numerous  experiments 
made  for  the  express  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
fact. 

8 


86  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

152.  Yet,  it  is  a  received  opinion,  a  thing  taken 
for  granted,  an  anxiom  in  horticulture,  that  Melon 
seed  is  the  better  for  being  old.  Mr.  Marshall, 
quoted  above,  in  paragraph  145,  says,  that  it 
ought  to  be  "  about  four  years  old,  though  some 
prefer  it  much  older."  And  he  afterwards  ob- 
serves, that  "  if  new  seed  only  can  be  had,  it 
should  be  carried  a  week  or  two  in  the  breeches- 

Jiocket,  to  dry  away  some  of  the  more  watery 
particles !"  What  should  we  do  here,  where  no 
breeches  are  worn  !  If  age  be  a  recommendation 
in  rules  as  well  as  in  Melon  seed,  this  rule  has  it ; 
for,  English  authors  published  it,  and  French 
authors  laughed  at  ity  more  than  a  century  fiastl 

153.  The  reader  will  observe,  that,  in  England, 
a  melon  is  a  melon;  that  they  are  not,  there, 
brought  into  market  in  wagon  loads  and  boat 
loads,  and  tossed  down  in  immense  heaps  on  the 
stones ;  but,  are  carried,  by  twos,  or  threes,  and 
with  as  much  care  as  a  new-born  baby  is  carried. 
In  short,  they  are  sold  at  from  a  dollar  to  four 
dollars  a  piece.  This  alters  the  case.  Those 
who  can  afford  to  have  melons  raised  in  their 
gardens,  can  afford  to  keep  a  conjuror  to  raise 
them;  and  a  conjuror  will  hardly  condescend  to 
follow  common  sense  in  his  practice.  This  would 
be  lowering  the  profession  in  the  eyes  of  the  vul- 
gar; and,  which  would  be  very  dangerous,  in  the 
eyes  of  his  employer.  However,  a  great  deal 
of  this  stuff  is  traditionary ;  and  a*  was  observed 
before,  how  are  we  to  find  the  conscience  to 
blame  a  gardener  for  errors  inculcated  by  gen- 
tlemen of  erudition ! 

154.  I  cannot  dismiss  this  part  of  my  subject 
"without  once  more  cautioning  the  reader  against 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  &T 

the  danger  of  unrifie  seed.  In  cases  where  win- 
ter overtakes  you  before  your  seed  be  quite  ripe, 
the  best  way  is  to  pull  up  the  plants  and  hang 
them  by  the  heels  in  a  dry  airy  place,  till  all 
green  depart  from  the  scalks,  and  until  they  be 
quite  dry,  and  wholly  rid  of  juice.  Even  in  hot 
weather,  when  the  seed  would  drop  out,  if  the 
plants  were  left  standing,  pull,  or  cut,  the  plants, 
and  lay  them  on  a  cloth  in  the  sun,  till  the  seed 
be  all  ready  to  fall  out ;  for,  if  forced  from  the 
pod,  the  seed  is  never  so  good.  Seeds  will  grow 
if  gathered  when  they  are  green  as  grass,  and 
afterwards  dried  in  the  sun ;  but  they  do  not  pro- 
gathered  green,  against  fifty,  gathered  ripe.  Not 
only  were  t\\z  filants  of  the  farmer  feeble,  when 
compared  with  the  latter ;  not  only  was  the  pro- 
duce plants  like  those  coming  from  rifie  seed. 
I  tried,  some  years  ago,  fifty  grains  of  wheat, 
duce  of  the  former  two-thirds  less  than  that  of 
the  latter;  but  even  the  quality  of  the  grain  was 
not  half  so  good.  Many  of  the  ears  had  smut, 
which  was  not  the  case  with  those  that  came  from 
the  ripened  seed,  though  the  land  and  the  cul- 
tivation were,  in  both  cases,  the  same. 

SOWING. 
155.  The  first  thing,  relating  to  sowing,  is,  the 
preparation  of  the  ground.  It  may  be  more  or 
less  fine  according  to  the  sort  of  seed  to  be  sown. 
Peas  and  beans  do  not,  of  course,  require  the 
earth  so  fine  as  small  seeds  do.  But,  still,  the 
finer  the  better  for  every  thing  ;  for,  it  is  best  if 
the  seed  be  actually  pressed  by  the  earth  in  every 
part ;  and  many  seeds,  if  not  all,  are  best  situated 
when  the  earth  is  trodden  down  upon  theuu 


83  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

156.  Of  coarse  the  ground  should  be  good, 
either  in  itself  or  made  good  by  manure  of  some 
sort,  and,  on  the  subject  of  manure,  see  Para- 
graphs 28  and  29.  But,  in  all  cases,  the  ground 
should  be  fresh  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  should  be  dug 
just  before  t.e  act  of  sowing,  in  order  that  the 
seeds  may  have  the  full  benefit  of  the  fermen- 
tation, that  takes  place  upon  every  moving  of 
the  earth. 

157.  Never  sow  when  the  ground  is  wet  ;  nor, 
indeed,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  perform  any  other 
act  with,  or  on,  the  ground  of  a  garden.  If  you 
dig  ground  in  wet  weather,  you  make  a  sort  of 
m  or  tar  of  it :  it  binds  when  the  sun  or  wind  dries 
it.  The  fermentation  does  not  take  place :  and 
it  becomes  unfavourable  to  vegetation,  especially 
if  the  ground  be,  in  the  smallest  degree,  stiff  in 
its  nature.  It  is  even  desirable,  that  wet  should 
not  come  for  some  days  after  ground  has  been 
moved ;  for,  it  the  wet  come  before  the  ground 
be  dry  at  to/i,  the  earth  will  run  together,  and 
will  become  bound  at  top.  Sow,  therefore,  if 
possible,  in  dry  weather,  but  in  freshly-moved 
ground. 

158.  The  season  for  sowing  will,  of  course, 
find  a  place  under  the  names  of  the  respective 
plants ;  and,  I  do  hope,  that  it  is,  when  I  am 
addressing  myself  to  Americans,  unnecessary 
for  me  to  say,  that  sowing  according  to  the  Moon 
is  wholly  absurd  and  ridiculous,  and  that  it  arose 
solely  out  of  the  circumstance,  that  our  forefa- 
thers, who  could  not  read,  had  neither  Almanack 
nor  Calendar  to  guide  them,  and  who  counted  by 
Moons  and  Festivals  instead  of  by  Months  and. 
Days  of  Months. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  £9 

159.  However,  it  is  necessary  to  observe, 
that  some,  and  even  many,  things,  which  are 
usually  sown  in  the  Spring,  would  be  better -sown 
in  the  fall;  and  especially  when  we  consider  how 
little  time  there  is  for  doing  all  things  in  the  spring. 
Parsnips,  carrots,  beets,  onions,  and  many  other 
things,  may  be  safely  sown  in  the  fall.  The  seed 
will  not  perish,  if  covered  by  the  earth.  But, 
then,  care  must  be  taken  to  sow  early  enough 
in  the  fall  tor  the  plants  to  come  up,  before  the 
frost  set  in.  The  seed  of  all  plants  will  lie  safe 
in  this  way  all  the  winter,  though  the  frost  pene- 
trate to  the  distance  of  three  feet  beneath  them, 
except  the  seeds  of  such  plants  as  a  slight  frost  will 
cut  down.  The  seed  of  kidney  beans,  for  in- 
stance, will  rot,  if  the  ground  be  not  warm 
enough  to  bring  it  uji.  So  will  the  seed  of  cu- 
cumbers, melons,  and  Indian  Corn,  unless  buried 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  influence  of  the  atmos- 
phere. Even  early  peas  would  be  best  sown  in 
the  fall,  could  you  have  an  insurance  against  mice. 
We  all  know,  what  a  bustle  there  is  to  get  in  early 
/teas.  If  they  were  sown  in  the  fall,  they  would 
start  up  the  moment  the  frost  were  out  of  the 
ground,  and  would  be  ten  days  earlier  in  bearing 
in  spite  of  every  effort  made  by  the  spring-sowers 
to  make  their  peas  overtake  them.  Upon  a  spot, 
where  I  saved  peas  for  seed,  last  year,  some  that 
was  left,  in  a  lock  of  haulm,  at  the  harvesting,  and 
that  lay  upon  the  dry  ground,  till  the  land  was 
ploughed  late  in  November,  came  up,  in  the 
spring,  the  moment  the  frost  was  out  of  the  ground 
and  they  were  in  bloom  full  fifteen  days  earlier 
than  those,  sown  in  the  same  field  as  early  as  pos- 
sible in  the  spring.  Doubtless,  they  would  have 
8* 


90  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

borne  peas  fifteen  days  sooner;  but  there  were 
but  a  very  few  of  them,  and  those  standing  strag- 
ling  about ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  plough  up  the 
ground  where  they  were  growing.  In  some  cases 
it  would  be  a  good  way,  to  cover  the  sown  ground 
with  titter i  or  with  leaves  of  trees,  as  soon  as 
the  frost  has  fairly  set  in  ;  but  not  before  ;  for, 
if  you  do  it  before,  the  seed  may  vegetate,  and 
then  may  be  killed  by  the  frost.  One  object  of 
this  fall-sowing,  is,  to  get  the  work  done  ready  for 
spring;  for,  at  that  season,  you  have  so  many 
things  to  do  at  once !  Besides  you  cannot  sow 
the  instant  the  frost  breaks  up  ;  for  the  ground  is 
wet  and  clammy,  unfit  to  be  dug  or  touched  or 
trodden  upon.  Ho  that  here  are  ten  days  lost. 
But,  the  seed,  which  has  lain  in  the  ground  all  the 
winter,  is  ready  to  start  the  moment  the  earth  is 
clear  of  the  winter  frost,  audit  is  uji  by  the  time 
you  can  get  other  seed  into  the  ground  in  a  good 
state.  Fall -sowing  of  seeds  to  come  u/i  in  the 
spring  is  not  practised  in  England,  though  they 
there  are  always  desirous  to  get  their  things  early. 
The  reason  is,  the  uncertainty  of  their  winter, 
which  passes,  sometimes  with  hardly  any  frost  at 
all ;  and  which,  at  other  times,  is  severe  enough 
to  freeze  the  Thames  over.  It  is  sometimes  mild 
till  February,  and  then  severe.  Sometimes  it 
begins  with  severity  and  ends  with  mildness.  So 
that,  nine  times  out  often,  their  seed  would  come 
ufx  and  the  plants  would  be  destroyed  before 
spring.  Besides  they  have  slugs  that  come  out  in 
mild  weather.,  and  eat  small  plants  up  in  the  win- 
ter. Other  insects  and  reptiles  do  the  like.  From 
these  obstacles  the  American  gardener  is  free. 
His  winter  sets  in  ;  and  the  earth  is  safely  closed 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  91 

Up  against  vegetation  till  the  spring.  I  am  speak- 
ing of  the  North  of  Virginia,  to  be  sure  ;  but  the 
gardener  to  the  south  will  adapt  the  observations 
to  his  climate,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  it. 

160.  As  to  the  act  of  sowing,  the  distances  and 
depths  differ  with  different  plants,  and  these  will, 
of  course  be  pointed  out  under  the  names  of  those 
different  plants  ;  but,  one  thing  is  common  to  all 
seeds ;  and  that  is,  that  they  should  be  sown  in 
rows  or  drills;  for,  unless  they  be  sown  in  this 
way,  all  is  uncertainty.  The  distribution  of  the 
seed  is  unequal ;  the  covering  is  of  unequal 
depth  ;  and,  when  the  plants  come  up  in  company 
with  the  weeds,  the  difficulty  of  ridding  the  ground 
of  the  latter,  without  destroying  the  former,  is 
very  great  indeed,  and  attended  with  ten  times  the 
labour.  Plants,  in  their  earliest  state,  generally 
require  to  be  thinned  ;  which  cannot  be  done  with 
regularity,  unless  they  stand  in  rows ;  and,  as  to 
every  future  operation,  how  easy  is  the  labour  in 
the  one  case  and  how  hard  in  the  other  !  It  is  of 
great  advantage  to  almost  all  plants  to  move  the 
ground  somewhat  deep  while  they  are  growing; 
but,  how  is  this  to  be  done,  unless  they  stand  in 
rows?  If  they  be  dispersed  promiscuously  over 
the  ground,  to  perform  this  operation  is  next  to 
impossible. 

161.  The  great  obstacle  to  the  following  of  a 
method  so  obviously  advantageous,  is,  the  trouble. 
To  draw  lines  for  peas  and  beans  is  not  deemed 
troublesome  ;  but,  to  do  this  for  raddishes,  onions, 
carrots,  lettuces,  beds  of  cabbages,  and  other 
small  seeds,  is  regarded  as  tedious.  When  we 
consider  the  saving  of  trouble  afterwards,  this 
trouble  is  reajly  nothing,  even  if  the   drills  were 


92  AMERICAN  GARDENER/; 

drawn  one  at  a  time  by  a  line  or  rule  ;  but,  this 
nee4  not  be  the  case  ;  for,  a  very  cheap  and 
simple  tool  does  the  business  with  as  much  quick- 
ness as  sowing  at  random. 

162.  Suppose  there  be  a  bed  of  onions  to  be 
sown.  I  make  my  drills  in  this  way.  I  have 
what  I  call  a  Driller ;  which  is  a  rake  six  feet  long 
in  the  head.  This  head  is  made  of  White  Oak, 
2  inches  by  2£ ;  and  has  teeth  in  it  at  eight  inches 
asunder,  each  tooth  being  about  six  inches  long, 
and  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the  head,  and  is  pointed 
a  little  at  the  end  that  meets  the  ground.  This 
gives  nine  teeth,  there  being  four  inches  over  at 
each  end  of  the  head.  In  this  head,  there  is 
a.  handle  iixed  of  about  six  feet  hong.  When  my 
ground  is  prepared,  raked  nice  and  smooth,  and 
cleaned  from  stones  and  clods,  I  begin  at  the  left 
hand  end  of  the  bed,  and  draw  across  it  nine  rows 
at  once.  I  then  proceed,  taking  care  to  keep 
the  left  hand  tooth  of  the  Driller  in  the  right  hand 
drill  that  has  just  been  made  ;  so  that  now  1  make 
but  eight  new  drills,  because  (for  a  guide)  the 
left  hand  tooth  goes  this  time  in  the  drill,  which 
was  before  made  by  the  right  hand  tooth.  Thus, 
at  every  draw,  I  make  eight  drills.  And,  in  this 
way  apretty  long  bed  is  formed  into  nice,  straight 
drills  in  a  very  few  minutes.  The  sowing,  after 
this,  is  done  with  truth,  and  the  depth  of  the  co- 
vering  must  be  alike  for  all  the  seeds.  If  it  be 
Parsnips  or  Carrots,  which  require  a  wider  dis- 
tance between  the  rows ;  or,  Cabbage  plants, 
which,  as  they  are  to  stand  only  for  a  while,  do 
not  require  distances  so  wide  :  in  these  cases, 
other  Drillers  may  be  made.  And,  what  is  the 
expense?  There  is  scarcely  an  American  farmer, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  9o 

who  would  not  make  a  set  of  Drillers,  for  six-inch, 
eight  inch,  and  twelve-inch  distances,  in  a  win- 
ter's day ;  and,  consisting  of  a  White  Oak  head 
and  handle,  and  of  Locust  teeth,  every  body 
knows,  that  the  tools  might  descend  from  father 
to  son,  to  the  fourth  or  fifth  generation.  I  hope, 
therefore,  that  no  one  will,  on  the  score  of  tedi- 
ousness,  object  to  the  drilling  of  seeds  in  a  garden. 

163.  In  the  case  of  large  pieces  of  ground,  a 
hand  Driller  is  not  sufficient.  Yet,  if  the  land 
be  ploughed,  furrows  might  make  the  paths,  the 
harrow  might  smooth  the  ground,  and  the  hand- 
driller  might  be  used  for  onions,  or  for  any  thing 
else.  However,  what  I  have  done  for  Kidney 
Beans  is  this.  I  have  a  roller  drawn  by  an  ox, 
or  a  horse.  The  roller  is  about  eight  inches  in 
diameter,  and  ten  feet  long.  To  that  part  of  the 
frame  of  the  roller,  which  projects,  or  hangs  over 
beyond  the  roller  behind,  I  attach,  by  means  of 
two  pieces  of  wood  and  two  pins,  s.  bar  ten  leet 
long.  Into  this  bar  I  put  ten  teeth  ;  and  near  the 
middle  of  the  bar  two  handles.  The  roller  being 
put  in  motion  breaks  all  the  clods  that  the  harrow 
has  left,  draws  after  it  the  ten  teeth,  and  the  ten 
teeth  make  ten  drills,  as  deep,  or  as  shallow,  as 
the  man  chooses  who  follows  the  roller,  holding 
the  two  handles  of  the  bar.  The  two  pieces  of 
wood,  which  connect  the  bar  with  the  hinder  pro- 
jecting part  of  the  frame  of  the  roller,  work  on 
the  pins,  so  as  to  let  the  bar  up  and  down,  as  oc- 
casion may  require  ;  and,  of  course,  while  the 
roller  is  turning,  at  the  end,  the  bar,  with  the 
teeth  in  it,  is  raised  from  the  ground. 

164.  Thus  are  ten  drills  made  by  an  ox,  in 
about  Jive  minutes,  which  would  perhaps  require 


94  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

a  man  more  than  a  day  to  make  with  a  hoe.  if^ 
short,  an  ox,  or  ahorse,  and  a  man  and  a  boy, 
will  do  twelve  acres  in  a  day  with  ease.  And  to 
draw  the  drills  with  a  hoe  would  require  forty- 
eight  men  at  the  least ;  for,  there  is  the  line  to 
be  at  work  as  well  as  the  hoe.  Wheat  and  even 
Peas  are,  in  the  fields,  drilled  by  machines;  but 
beans  cannot,  and  especially  kidney  beans.  Drills 
must  be  made :  and,  where  they  are  cultivated  on 
a  large  scale,  how  tedious  and  expensive  must 
be  the  operation  to  make  the  drills,  by  line  and 
hoe  !  When  the  drills  are  made,  the  beans  are 
laid  in  at  proper  distances,  then  covered  with  a 
light  harrow  (frame  of  White-Oak  and  tines  of 
Locust,)  and  after  all  comes  the  roller,  with  the 
teeth  lifted  up  of  course ;  and  all  is  smooth  and 
neat.  The  expense  of  such  an  apparatus  is  really 
nothing.  The  barrel  of  the  roller,  and  the  teeth- 
bar,  ought  to  be  JLocusty  which  never  perishes, 
and  the  shafts  and  frame  of  White-Oak,  which, 
even  without  paint,  will  last  a  life  time. 

165.  In  order  to  render  the  march  of  the  ox 
straight,  my  ground  was  ploughed  into  lands,  one 
of  which  took  the  ten  rows  of  kidney-beans ;  so 
that  the  ox  had  only  to  be  kept  straight  along 
upon  the  middle  of  the  land.  And,  in  order  to 
have  the  lands  flat,  not  arched  at  all,  the  ground 
was  ploughed  twice  in  this  shape,  which  brought 
the  middle  of  the  lands  where  the  furrows  were 
before.  If,  however,  the  ground  had  been  flat- 
ploughed,  without  any  furrow,  there  would  have 
been  no  difficulty.  I  should  have  started  on  a 
straight  side,  or  on  the  straightest  side,  leaving 
out  any  crook  or  angle  that  there  might  have 
been.    I  should  have  taken   two  distant  objects, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  $5 

Jound,  or  placed,  beyond  the  end  of  the 
work,  and  should  have  directed  the  head  of 
the  ox  in  a  line  with  those  two  objects.  Before  I 
started,  I  should  have  measured  off  the  width  to 
find  where  the  ox  ought  to  come  to  again,  and 
then  have  fixed  two  objects  to  direct  his  coming 
back.  I  should  have  done  this  at  each  end,  till 
the  piece   had  been  finished. 

166.  But,  is  there  no  other  use,  to  which  this 
roller  could  be  put  ?  Have  I  not  seen,  in  the 
marking  of  a  corn-field,  a  man  (nay  the  farmer 
himself)  mounted  upon  ahorse,  which  dragged  a 
log  of  wood  after  it,  in  order  to  indicate  the  lines 
upon  which  the  corn  was  to  be  planted  ?  And 
have  I  not,  at  other  times,  seen  the  farmer  making 
these  marks,  one  at  a  time,  with  a  filough  ?  And 
have  I  not  seen  the  beauty  of  these  most  beautiful 
scenes  of  vegetation  marred  by  the  crookedness 
of  the  lines  thus  drawn  ?  Now,  take  my  roller, 
take  all  the  teeth  out  but  three,  let  these  three  be 
at  four  feet  apart.  Begin  well  on  one  side  of  the 
field  ;  mount  your  horse  ;  load  the  teeth  well  with 
a  stone  tied  on  each ;  drop  the  bar ;  take  two 
objects  in  your  eye  ;  go  on,  keep  the  two  objects 
in  line,  and  you  draw  three  lines  at  once,  all 
straight  and  parallel,  even  if  a  mile  long.  Then, 
turn,  and  carefully  fix  the  horse  again,  so  that 
you  leave  four  feet  between  the  outside  line  drawn 
before  and  the  inside  tooth.  You  have  already 
measured  at  the  other  end  (where  you  started,) 
and  have  placed  two  objects  for  your  guide.  Go 
on,  keeping  these  objects  in  aline;  and  you  have 
three  more  lines.  Thus  you  proceed  till  the  field 
be  finished.  Here  is  a  great  saving  of  time  ;  but, 
were  it  for  nothing  but  the  look,  ought  not  the  log 
to  give  place  to  the  roller  > 


%6  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

167.  If  I  have  strayed  here  out  of  the  garden 
into  the  field,  let  it  be  recollected,  that  I  write 
principally  for  the  use  of  farmers.  I  now  return 
to  garden-sowing. 

168.  When  the  seeds  are  properly,  and  at 
suitable  distances,  placed  in  the  drills,  rake  the 
ground,  and,  in  all  cases,  tread  it  with  your  feet \ 
unless  it  be  very  moist.  Then  rake  it  slightly 
again  ;  for  all  seeds  grow  best  when  the  earth  is 
pressed  closely  about  them.  When  the  plants 
come  up,  thin  them,  keep  them  clear  of  weeds, 
and  attend  to  the  directions  given  under  the  names 
of  the  several  plants. 

TRANSPLANTING. 

169.  The  weather  for  transplanting,  whether  of 
table  vegetables,  or  of  trees,  is  the  same  as  that 
for  sowing.  If  you  do  this  work  in  wet  weather, 
or,  when  the  ground  is  wet,  the  work  cannot  be 
well  done.  It  is  no  matter  what  the  plant  is, 
whether  it  be  a  cucumber  plant,  or  an  oak-tree. 
It  has  been  observed,  as  to  seeds,  that  they  like 
the  earth  to  touch  them  in  every  part,  and  to  lie 
close  about  them.  It  is  the  same  with  roots.  One 
half  of  the  bad  growth  that  we  see  in  orchards 
arises  from  negligence  in  the  planting',  from 
tumbling  the  earth  carelessly  in  upon  the  roots, 
The  earth  should  be  as  fine  as  possible ;  for,  if  it  be 
not,  part  of  the  roots  will  remain  untouched  by 
the  earth.  If  ground  be  wet,  it  cannot  be  fine. 
And,  if  mixed  wet,  it  will  remain  in  a  sort  of  mor- 
tar, and  will  cling  and  bind  together,  and  will 
leave  more  or  less  of  cracks,  when  it  become 
dry. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  97 

170.  If  possible,  therefore,  transplant  when  the 
ground  is  not  wet ;  but,  here  again,  as  in  the  case 
of  sowing,  let  it  be  dug,  or  deeply  moved,  and 
well  broken,  immediately  before  you  transplant 
into  it.  There  is  a  fermentation  that  takes  place 
immediately  after  moving,  and  a  dew  arises, 
which  did  not  arise  before.  These  greatly  exceed, 
in  power  of  causing  the  plant  to  strike,  any  thiag 
to  be  obtained  by  rain  on  the  plants  at  the  time  ot 
planting,  or  by  planting  in  wet  earth.  Cabbages 
and  Ruta  Raga  (or  Swedish  Turnip)  I  have  pro- 
ved, in  innumerable  instances,  will,  if  planted 
in  freshly-moved  earth,  under  a  burning  sun,  be 
a  great  deal  finer  than  those  planted  in  wet 
ground,  or  during  rain.  The  causes  are  explain- 
ed in  the  foregoing  paragraph  ;  and,  there  never 
was  a  greater,  though  most  popular  error,  than 
that  of  waiting  for  a  shower  in  order  to  set  about 
the  work  of  transplanting.  In  all  the  books,  that 
I  have  read,  without  a  single  exception :  in  the 
English  Gardening  books ;  in  the  English  Far- 
mer's Dictionary,  and  many  other  works  on  Eng- 
lish husbandry ;  in  the  Encyclopedia ;  in  short, 
in  all  the  books  on  husbandry  and  on  gardening 
that  I  have  ever  read,  English  or  French,  this 
transplanting  in  showery  weather  is  recommended. 

171.  If  you  transplant  in  hot  weather,  the 
leaves  of  the  plants  will  be  scorched ;  but  the 
hearts  will  live ;  and  the  heat,  assisting  the  fer- 
mentation, will  produce  new  roots  in  twenty-four 
hours,  and  new  leaves  in  a  few  days.  Then  it  is 
that  you  see  fine  vegetation  come  on.  If  you 
plant  in  wet,  that  wet  must  be  followed  by  dry  ; 
the  earth,  from  being  moved  in  wet,  contracts  the 
mortary  nature  \  hardens  first,  and  then  cracks ; 

9 


98  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

and  the  plants  will  stand  in  a  stunted  state,  till 
the  ground  be  moved  about  them  in  dry  weather. 
If  I  could  have  my  wish  in  the  planting  of  a  piece 
of  Cabbages,  Ruta  Baga,  Lettuces,  or,  almost  any 
thing,  I  would  find  the  ground  perfectly  dry  at 
top ;  I  would  have  it  dug  deeply  ;  plant  immedi- 
ately; and  have  no  rain  for  three  or  four  days. 
I  would  prefer  no  rain  for  a  month  to  rain  at  the 
time  of  planting. 

172.  This  is  a  matter  of  primary  importance. 
How  many  crops  are  lost  by  the  waiting  for  a 
shower!  And,  when  the  shower  comes,  the  ground 
is  either  not  dug,  or  it  has  been  dug  for  some 
time,  and  the  benefit  of  the  fermentation  is  whol- 
ly lost. 

173.  However,  there  are  some  very  tender 
plants  ;  plants  so  soft  and  juicy  as  to  be  absolutely 
burnt  up  and  totally  destroyed,  stems  and  all,  in 
a  hot  sun,  in  a  few  hours.  Cucumbers  and  Melons, 
for  instance,  and  some  plants  of  flowers.  These, 
which  lie  in  a  small  compass,  must  be  shaded  at 
least,  if  not  watered,  upon  their  removal ;  a  more 
particular  notice  of  which  will  be  taken  as  we 
proceed  in  the  Lists  of  the  Plants. 

174.  In  the  act  of  transplanting  the  main  things 
are  to  take  care  not  to  bury  the  heart  of  the  plant; 
and  to  take  care  that  the  earth  be  well  pressed 
about  the  fioint  of  the  root  of  the  plant.  To  press 
the  earth  very  closely  about  the  stem  of  the  plant 
is  of  little  use,  if  you  leave  the  fioint  of  the  root 
loose.  I  beg  that  this  may  be  borne  in  mind ;  for 
the  growth,  and  even  the  life,  of  the  plant  depend 
on  great  care  as  to  this  particular.  See  Caftbage, 
Paragraph  200,  for  a  minute  description  of  the 
act  of  planting* 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  99 

175.  As  to  propagation  by  cuttings,  slips,  layers 
and  offsets,  it  will  be  spoken  of  under  the  names 
of  the  several  plants  usually  propagated  in  any 
of  those  ways.  Cuttings  are  pieces  cut  off  from 
branches  of  trees  and  plants.  Slips  are  branches 
pulled  off  and  slipped  down  at  a  joint.  Layers 
are  branches  left  on  the  plant  or  tree,  and  bent 
down  to  the  ground,  and  fastened,  with  earth  laid 
upon  the  part  between  the  plant  and  the  top  of 
the  branch.  Offsets  are  parts  of  the  root  and 
plant   separated  from  the  main  root. 

CULTIVATION. 

176.  Here,  as  in  the  foregoing  parts  of  this 
Chapter,  I  propose  to  speak  only  of  what  is  of 
generalt  application,  in  order  to  save  the  room 
that  would  be  necessary  to  repeat  instructions  for 
cultivation  under  the  names  of  the  several  plants. 

177.  The  ground  being  good,  and  the  sowing, 
or  planting,  having  been  properly  performed,  the 
next  thing  is  the  after-management ,  which  is 
usually  called  the  cultivation. 

178.  If  the  subject  be  from  seed,  the  first  thing 
is  to  see  that  the  plants  stand  at  a  p%per  distance 
from  each  other;  because,  if  $eft  too  close,  they 
cannot  come  to  good.  Let  them  also  be  thinned 
early ;  for,  even  while  in  seed-leaf,  they  injure 
each  other.  Carrots,  parsnips,  lettuces,  every 
thing,  ought  to  be  thinned  in  the  seed-leaf. 

179.  Hoe,  or  weed,  immediately ;  and,  let  me 
observe  here,  once  for  all,  that  weeds  never  ought 
to  be  suffered  to  get  to  any  size  either  in  field  or 
garden,  and  especially  in  the  latter.  In  England, 
where  it  rains,  or  drips,   sometimes,  for  a  month 


100  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

together,  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  weeds  from 
growing.  But  in  this  fine  climate,  under  this 
blessed  sun,  who  never  absents  himself  for  more 
than  about  forty-eight  hours  at  a  time,  and  who 
will  scorch  a  dock-root,  or  a  dandelion  root,  to 
death  in  a  day,  and  lengthen  a  water-melon  shoot 
24  inches  in  as  many  hours  :  in  this  climate,  scan- 
dalous indeed  it  is  to  see  the  garden,  or  the  field, 
infested  with  weeds. 

180.  But,  besides  the  act  of  killing  weeds, 
cultivation  means  moving  the  earth  between  the 
plants  while  growing.  This  assists  them  in  their 
growth  :  it  feeds  them  :  it  raises  food  for  their 
roots  to  live  upon.  A  mere^a^-hoeing  doe9  no- 
thing but  keep  down  the  weeds.  The  hoeing 
when  the  plants  are  become  stout,  should  be 
deep;  and,  in  general,  with  a  hoe  that  has  sjianes 
instead  of  a  mere  flat  plate.  In  short,  a  sort  of 
4irong  in  the  posture  of  a  hoe.  And  the  spane 
of  this  prong-hoe  may  be  longer,  or  shorter, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  crop  to  be  hoed. 
Deep-hoeing  is  enough  in  some  cases ;  but,  in 
others,  digging  is  necessary  to  produce  a  fine  and 
full  crop.  If  any  body  will  have  a  piece  of 
Cabbages,  anil  will  dig  between  the  rows  of  one 
half  of  them,  twice  during  their  growth,  and  let 
the  other  half  of  the  piece  have  nothing  but  a 
flat-hoeing,  that  person  will  find  that  the  half 
which  has  been  digged  between,  will,  when  the 
crop  is  ripe,  weigh  nearly,  if  not  quite,  twice  as 
much  as  the  other  half.  But,  why  need  this  be 
said  in  an  Indian  Corn  country,  where  it  is  so 
well  known,  that,  without  being  ploughed  be- 
tween, the  corn  will  produce  next   to  nothing } 

181,  It  may  appear,  that,  to  dig  thusamoflfgst 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  101 

growing  plants  is  to  cut  off,  or  tear  off,  their 
roots,  of  which  the  ground  is  full.  This  is  really 
the  case,  and  this  does  great  good;  for  the  roots, 
thus  cut  asunder,  shoot  again  from  the  plant  side, 
find  new  food,  and  send,  instantly,  fresh  vigour  to 
the  plant.  The  effect  of  this  tillage  is  quite 
surprising.  We  are  hardly  aware  of  its  power  in 
producing  vegetation  ;  and  we  are  still  less  aware 
of  the  distance,  to  which  the  roots  of  plants  ex- 
tend in  every  direction. 

182.  Mr.  Tull,  the  father  of  the  drill-husband- 
ry, gives  the  following  account  of  the  manner,  in 
which  he  discovered  the  distance  to  which  certain 
roots  extend.  I  should  observe  here,  that  he 
was  led  to  think  of  the  drilling  of  crops  in  the 
fields  of  England,  from  having,  when  in  France, 
observed  the  effects  of  inter-tillage  on  the  vines, 
Qin  the  vineyards.  If  he  had  visited  America 
instead  of  France,  he  would  have  seen  the  effects 
of  that  tillage,  in  a  still  more  striking  light,  on 
plants,  in  your  Indian  Corn  fields;  for,  he  would 
have  seen  these  plants  spindling,  yellow,  actually 
perishing,  to-day,  for  want  of  fdoughing ;  and,  in 
four  days  after  a  good,  deep,  clean  and  careful 
ploughing,  especially  in  hot  weather,  he  would 
have  seen  them  wholly  change  their  colour,  be- 
come of  a  bright  and  beautiful  green,  bending 
their  leaves  over  the  intervals,  and  growing  at  the 
rate  of  four  inches  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 

183.  The  passage,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  is 
of  so  interesting  a  nature,  and  relates  to  a  matter 
of  so  much  importance,  that  I  shall  insert  it  entire, 
and  also  the  folates  made  use  of  by  Mr.  Tull  to 
illustrate  his  meaning.  I  shall  not,  as  so  many 
others  have,  take  the  thoughts,  and  send  them 
9* 


102  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

forth  as  my  own  ;  nor,  like  Mr.  John  Christiax 
Curwen,  steal  them  from  Tull,  and  give?  them, 
with  all  the  honor  belonging  to  them,  to  a  Bishop. 

184.  "A  Method  how  to  find  the  distance  to 
"  which  roots  extended  horizontally.  A  piece,  or 
"plot  dug  and  made  fine,  in  whole  hard  ground, 
"  as  in  Plate   II.  Fig.  1. 

44  The  end  A.  2  feet,  the  end  B.  12  feet,  the 
"  length  of  the  piece  20  yards ;  the  figures  iii 
*'  the  middle  of  it  are  20  Turnips,  sown  early 
"  and  well  hoed.  The  manner  of  this  hoeing 
"  must  be,  at  first,  near  the  plants,  with  a  spade, 
44  and  each  time  afterwards,  a  foot  distance,  till 
"the  earth  be  once  well  dug;  and,  if  weeds 
44  appear  where  it  has  been  so  dug,  hoe  them  out 
"  shallow  with  the  hand-hoe.  But,  dig  all  the 
"  piece  next  the  out-lines  deep  every  time,  that  it 
"  may  be  the  finer  for  the  roots  to  enter,  whe% 
"they  are  permitted  to  come  thither.  If  the 
"  Turnips  be  all  bigger,  as  they  stand  nearer  to 
"  the  end  B,  it  is  a  proof  they  all  extend  to  the 
"  outside  of  the  piece,  and  the  Turniji  20,  will 
"  appear  to  draw  nourishment  from  six  foot  dis- 
"  tance  from  its  centre.  But  if  the  Tumi/is  16, 
"  17,  18,  19,  20,  acquire  no  greater  bulk  than  the 
44  Turniji  15,  it  will  "be  clear,  that  their  roots 
"  extend  no  farther  than  those  of  the  Turniji  15 
44  does  ;  which  is  but  about  4  foot.  By  this  method 
44  the  distance  of  the  extent  of  roots  of  any  plant, 
"  may  be  discovered. — There  is  also  another  way 
44  to  find  the  length  of  roots,  by  making  a  long 
44  narrow  trench,  at  the  distance  you  expect  they 
44  will  extend  to,  and  fill  it  with  salt ;  if  the  plant 
4  be  killed  by  the  salt,  it  is  certain  that  some  of 
44  the  roots  enter  it. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER. 


103 


►  o  o  o 

>ooo 


104  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

185.  "  What  put  me  upon  trying  this  me- 
44  thod  was  an  observation  of  two  lands,  or 
"  ridges  (See  Plate  II.  Fig.  2.)  drilled  with 
44  Tumi/is  in  rows,  a  foot  asunder,  and  very 
44  even  in  them  ;  the  ground,  at  both  ends  and  one 
44  side,  was  hard  and  unploughed.  The  Turnifis 
"  not  being  hoed  were  very  poor,  small,  and 
"  yellow,  except  the  three  outside  rows,  bed 
44  which  stood  next  to  the  land  (or  Ridge)  E, 
44  which  land,  being  ploughed  and  harrowed,  at 
44  the  time  the  land  A  ought  to  have  been  hoed, 
44  gavea  dark  flourishing  colour  to  these  three 
**  rows ;  and  the  Turnips  in  the  row  dy  which 
41  stood  farthest  off  from  the  new  ploughed  land 
4*  E>  received  so  much  benefit  from  it,  as  to  grow 
44  twice  as  big  as  any  of  the  more  distant  rows. 
44  The  row  c  being  a  foot  nearer  to  the  new 
44  ploughed  land,  became  twice  as  large  as  those 
44  in  dy  but  the  row  b,  which  was  next  to  the  land 
44  E,  grew  much  larger  yet.  i^is  a  piece  of  hard 
44  whole  ground,  of  about  two  perch  in  length,  and 
44  about  two  or  three  foot  broad,  lying  betwixt 
44  those  two  lands,  which  had  not  been  ploughed 
44  that  year ;  it  was  remarkable  that,  during  the 
44  length  of  this  interjacent  hard  ground,  the  rows 
"bed  were  as  small  and  yellow  as  any  in  the 
44  land.  The  Turnips  in  the  row  dt  about  three 
44  foot  distant  from  the  land  E,  receiving  a  double 
44  increase,  proves  they  had  as  much  nourishment 
44  from  the  land  E  as  from  the  land  A,  wherein 
44  they  stood,  which  nourishment  was  brought 
44  by  less  than  half  the  number  of  roots  of  each  of 
44  these  Turnifis.  In  their  own  land  they  must 
44  have  extended  a  yard  all  round,  else  they  could 
"  not  have  reached  the  land  E,  wherein  it  is 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  105 

j  probable  these  few  roots  went  more  than  another 
*•  yard,  to  give  each  Turnip  as  much  increase  as 
"  all  the  roots  had  done  in  their  own  land.  Except 
**  that  it  will  hereafter  appear,  that  the  new 
"  nourishment  taken  at  the  extremities  of  the  roots 
"  in  the  land  i£,  might  enable  the  plants  to  send 
*'  out  more  new  roots  in  their  own  land,  and 
4i  receive  something  more  from  thence.  The  row 
*'  c  being  twice  as  big  as  the  row  dy  must  be 
**  supposed  to  extend  twice  as  far;  and  the  row 
"  by  four  times  as  far,  in  proportion  as  it  was  of 
**  a  bulk  quadruple  to  the  row  d." 

186.  Thus,  then,  it  is  clear,  that  tillage  amongst 
growing  plants  is  a  great  thing.  Not  only  is  it 
of  great  benefit  to  the  plants ;  not  only  does  it 
greatly  augment  the  amount  of  the  Crop,  and 
make  it  of  the  best  quality ;  but,  it  prepares  the 
ground  for  another  crop.  If  a  summer  fallow  be 
good  for  the  land,  here  is  a  summer  fallow  ;  if 
the  ploughing  between  Indian  Corn  firefiares  the 
the  land  for  wheats  the  digging  between  cabbages 
and  other  crops  will,  of  course  prepare  the  land 
for  succeeding  crops. 

187.  Watering  plants \  though  so  strongly  re- 
commended in  English  Gardening  Books;  and 
so  much  in  practice,  is  a  thing  of  very  doubtful 
utility  in  any  case,  and,  in  most  cases,  of  posi- 
tive injury,  A  country  often  endures  present 
suffering  from  long  drough* ;  but,  even  if  all 
the  gardens  and  all  the  fields  could,  in  such  a 
case,  be  watered  with  a  watering  pot,  I  much 
question,  whether  it  would  be  beneficial  even  to 
the  crops  of  the  dry  season  itself.  It  is  not,  ob* 
serve,  rain  water  that  you  can,  one  time  out  of  a 
thousand,  water  with.    And,   to  nourish  Jilants^ 


106  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

the  water  must  be  prepared  in  clouds  and  mists 
and  dews.  Observe  this.  Besides,  when  rain 
comes,  the  earth  is  prepared  for  it  by  that  state 
of  the  air,  which  precedes  rain,  and  which  makes 
all  things  damp,  and  slackens  and  loosens  the 
earth,  and  disposes  the  roots  and  leaves  for  the 
reception  of  the  rain.  To  pour  water,  therefore, 
upon  plants,  or  upon  the  ground  where  they  are 
growing,  or  where  seeds  are  sown,  is  never  of 
much  use,  and  is  generally  mischievous  ;  for,  the 
air  is  dry;  the  sun  comes  immediately  and  bakes 
the  ground,  and  vegetation  is  checked,  rather 
than  advanced,  by  the  operation.  The  best  pro- 
tector against  frequent  drought  is  frequent  dig- 
ding,  or,  in  the  fields,  ploughing,  and  always 
deep.  Hence  will  arise  a  fermentation  and  dews. 
The  ground  will  have  moisture  in  it,  in  spite  of 
all  drought,  which  the  hard,  unmoved  ground  will 
not.  But  always  dig  or  plough  in  dry  weather, 
and,  the  drier  the  weather,  the  deeper  you  ought 
to  go,  and  the  finer  you  ought  to  break  the  earth. 
When  plants  are  covered  by  lights,  or  are  in  a 
house,  or  are  covered  with  cloths  in  tho.  night  time, 
they  may  need  watering,  and  in  such  cases^ 
must  have  it  given  them  by  hand. 

188.  I  shall  conclude  this  Chapter  with  ob- 
serving on  what  I  deem  a  vulgar  error,  and  an 
error,  too,  which  sometimes  produces  inconve- 
nience. It  is  believed,  and  stated,  that  the  ground 
grows  tired,  in  time,  of  the  same  sort  of  plant  ; 
and  that,  if  it  be,  year  after  year,  cropped  with 
the  same  sort  of  plant,  the  produce  will  be  small, 
and  the  quality  inferior  to  what  it  was  at  first. 
Mr.  TuLLhas  mostsatistactorily/zrox^,  both  by 
fact  and  argument,  that  this  is  not  true.    And  I 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  107 

Avill  add  this  fact,  that  Mr.  Missing,  a  Barrister, 
living  in  the  Parish  of  Tichfield,  in  Hampshire, 
in  England,  and  who  was  a  most  excellent  and 
kind  neighbor  of  mine,  has  a  border  under  a 
south  wall,  on  which  he  and  his  father  before  him, 
have  grown  early  fieas,  every  year,  for  more  than 
forty  years  ;  and,  if,  at  any  time,  they  had  been 
finer  than  they  were  every  one  year  of  the  four  or 
five  years  that  I  saw  them,  they  must  have  been, 
something  very  extraordinary  ;  for,  in  those  years 
(the  last  four  or  five  of  the  more  than  forty)  they 
were  as  fine,  and  as  full  bearing,  as  any  that  I 
ever  saw  in  England. 

189.  Before  I  entirely  quitted  the  subject  of 
Cultivation,  there  would  be  a  few  remarks  to  be 
made  upon  the  means  $>f  pre  venting  the  depreda- 
tions of  vermin,  some  of  which  make  their  attacks 
on  the  seed,  others  on  the  roots,  others  on  the 
stem,  others  on  the  leaves  and  blossoms,  and 
others  on  the  fruit ;  but,  as  1  shall  have  to  be 
very  particular  on  this  subject  in  speaking  of 
fruits,    I  defer  it  till  I  come  to  the  Chapter  on 

Fruits. 

190.  Having  now  treated  of  the  Situation,  Soil, 
Fencing,  and  Laying  out  of  gardens;  on  the  ma- 
king and  managing  of  Hot -Beds  and  Green- Hous- 
es; and  having  given  some  directions*  to  pro- 
pagation aod  cultivation  in  general,  I  next  pro- 
ceed to  give  Alphabetical  Lists  of  the  several  sorts 
of  plants,  and  to  speak  of  the  proper  treatment 
for  each,  under  the  three  heads,  Vegetables  and 
Herbs.;  Fruits;  and  Flowers. 


108  AMERICAN  GARDENER 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Vegetables  and  Herbs. 

191.  The  word,  Vegetables,  is  not,  as  was 
observed  in  Paragraph  5,  quite  properly  used 
here.  This  Chapter  treats  of  the  things  culti- 
vated in  the  garden  to  be  eaten  at  our  tables  as 
food ;  and,  they  are  Vegetables ;  but,  a  tree  is 
also  a  vegetable  ;  and  such  is  a  herb  or  a  flower. 
Therefore,  as  a  distinct  appellation,  the  word, 
vegetables,  is  n«^t  strictly  proper.  But  it  is  the 
word  we  use  to  distinguish  this  class  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  earth  from  others ;  and  therefore, 
I  use  it  upon  this  occasion.  Herbs  are  usually 
placed  as  a  class  separate  from  Vegetables  ;  but, 
while  some  of  them  ar%'fnerely  medicinal,  like 
Pennyroyal,  others  are  used,  not  only  in  medicine 
and  in  soups,  but  also  eaten  in  salads.  There- 
fore, it  appeared  to  be  best  to  bring  into  this 
one  alphabetical  list,  all  plants  usually  grown  in 
a  garden,  except  such  as  come  under  the  heads 
of  Fruits  and  Flowers. 

192.  ARTICHOKE.— A  plant  little  culti- 
vated in  America,  but  very  well  worthy  of  cul- 
tivation. In  its  look  it  very  much  resembles  a 
thistle  of  the  big-blossomed  kind.  It  sends  up  a 
seed  stal*:,  and  it  blows,  exactly  like  the  thistle 
that  we  see  in  the  Arms  of  Scotland.  It  is,  in- 
deed, a  thistle  upon  a  gigantic  scale.  The  parts 
that  are  eaten  are,  the  lower  end  of  the  thick 
leaves  that  envelope  the  seed,  and  the  bottom  out 
which  those  leaves  immediately  grow.  The  whole 
of  the  head,  before  the  bloom  begins  to  appear, 
is  boiled,  the  pod  leaves  are  pulled  off  by  the 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  109 

eater,  one  or  two  at  a  time,  and  dipped  in  butter, 
with  a  little  pepper  and  salt,  the  mealy  part  is 
stripped  off  by  the  teeth,  and  the  rest  of  the  leaf 
put  aside,  as  we  do  the  stem  of  asparagus.  The 
bottom,  when  all  the  leaves  are  thus  disposed  of> 
is  eaten  with  knife  and  fork.  The  french,  who 
make  salads  of  almost  every  garden  vegetable, 
and  of  not  a  few  of  the  plants  of  the  field,  eat  the 
artichoke  in  salad.  They  gather  the  heads,  when 
not  much  bigger  round  than  a  dollar,  and  eat  the 
lower  ends  of  the  leaves  above  mentioned  raw, 
dipping  them  first  in  oil,  vinegar,  salt  and  pepper; 
and,  in  this  way,  they  are  very  good.  Artichokes 
are  firoftagated  from  seed,  or,  from  offsets.  If 
by  the  former,  sow  the  seed  in  rows  a  foot  a  part, 
as  soon  as  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground.  Thin 
the  plants  to  a  foot  apart  in  the  row  ;  and,  in  the 
fall  of  the  year,  put  out  the  plants  in  clumps  of 
four,  in  rows,  three  feet  apart,  and  the  rows  six 
feet  asunder.  They  will  produce  their  fruit  the 
next  year.  When  winter  approaches,  earth  the 
roots  well  up  ;  and,  before  the  frost  sets  in,  cover 
all  well  over  with  litter  from  the  yard  or  stable. 
Open  at  the  breaking  up  of  the  frost ;  dig  all  the 
ground  well  between  the  rows;  level  the  earth 
down  from  the  plants.  You  will  find  many  young 
ones,  or  offsets,  growing  out  from  the  sides. 
Pull  these  off,  and,  if  you  want  a  new  plantation, 
put  them  out,  as  you  did  the  original  plants.  They 
will  bear,  though  later  than  the  old  ones,  that 
same  year.^-As  to  sorts  of  this  plant,  there  are 
two,  but  they  contain  no  difference  of  any  conse- 
quence: one  has  its  head,  or  fruit  pod,  round, 
and  the  other,  rather  conical.  As  to  the  quantity 
fbr  a  family,  one  row  across  oae  of  the  plats  wifi 
10 


110  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

be  sufficient. — For  Jerusalem  Artichoke,   see  Je->* 
Tusalem. 

193.  ASPARAGUS.— -Were  I  writing  to  Nova 
Scotians,  I  ought  not  to  omit  to  give  instructions 
as  to  which  end  of  the  Asparagus  the  eater  ought 
to  use ;  tor  I  knew  a  gentleman  of  that  country, 
who,  being  at  New  York,  on  his  first  trip  from 
home,  began  eating  at  the  stem  in  place  of  the 
point.  Writing,  as  I  now  do,  to  those,  whose 
country  produces,  with  the  least  degree  of  trouble, 
the  finest  asparagus  that  I  ever  saw,  and  pro- 
bably the  finest  in  the  world,  no  description  of  the 
plant,,  or  of  its  uses,  is  necessary.  But,  some 
remarks  on  its  propagation  and  cultivation  are 
not  wholly  unnecessary;  for,  though  it  demands 
less  trouble  in  America  than  elsewhere,  it  de- 
mands some  ;  and,  in  proportion  as  it  is  valuable 
and  esteemed,  it  is  desirable  that  the  means  of 
procuring  it  should  be  well  and  generally  under- 
stood.— It  is  propagated  from  seed.  Gather  the 
seed,  when  it  is  dead  ripe.  Sow  it  thinly  in  drills 
a  foot  asunder,  and  two  inches  deep,  three  weeks, 
or  about,  before  the  frost  sets  in.  Press  the  earth 
well  down  upon  the  seed ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
frost  sets  in,  but  not  before,  cover  the  ground  with- 
muck,  or  litter,  a  foot  deep,  and  lay  some  boards, 
or  poles,  to  prevent  its  blowing  off.  As  soon  as 
the  frost  breaks  up  in  the  spring,  take  offthe  lit- 
ter; and  you  will  have  the  plants  quickly  up, 
(See  Paragraph  159.)  When  the  plants  are  fairly 
up,  thin  them  to  four  inches  asunder ;  for,  they 
will  be  four  times  as  strong  at  this  distance  as  if 
they  stood  close.  Keep  them  clean  and  hofe 
■deeply  between  them  all  the  summer. — To  have 
!"M*  ^  Asoaragus,  there  are  two  ways  of  going: 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  Ill 

to  work :  first,  sowing  the  seed  in  the  beds  at 
once ;  and,  second,  making  the  beds,  and  re- 
moving the  plants  into  them.  It  is  desirable  to 
have  the  beds  about  four  feet  wide,  that  you  may 
cut  the  asparagus  by  going  in  the  paths  between 
them,  and  not  trample  the  beds.  As  to  the  first 
method,  ifthe  soil  have  a  dry  bottom,  trench  in  the- 
manner  described  in  Paragraph  20  ;  but,  in  this 
case,  where  there  is  a  root  always  penetrating 
downward,  do  not  content  yourself  with  a  clean 
trench  two  feet  deep ;  but,  before  you  turn  your 
tofi  earth  into  this  trench,  nut  some  good  manure 
into  it,  and  dig  it  into  this  bottom  fiart ;  and  then 
you  will  have  manure  at  two  feet  and  nine  inches 
from  the  surface.  Your  ground  being  ready,  lay 
out  your  beds,  four  feet  wide,  with  a  path  two  feet 
wide  between  each  two  beds.  In  the  fall,  having 
made  all  the  ground  right  strong  w  th  manure, 
draw  the  earth  to  six  inches  deep/rom  the  toft  of 
the  beds  into  the  fiaths,  which  will  then  form  high 
ridges.  Then  draw  your  drills  afoot  ajiart,  and  sow 
your  seed,  as  before  directed.  When  they  are  up, 
in  spring,  thin  them  to  afoot  afiart.  Thus  you  will 
have  them  afoot  apart  all  over  the  bed.  Keep  the 
pi  -ints  clean  all  summer  ;  and,  when  the  haulm  is 
yllovo  in  the  fall,  cut  them  off  near,  or  close,  to 
the  ground ;  but,  let  the  haulm  be  quite  dead 
first ;  yet,  do  it  before  the  frost  actually  sets  in. 
When  you  have  cut  off  the  haulm,  lay  some  litter 
upon  the  bed  till  spring,  to  prevent  the  frost  from 
being  too  long  coming  out  of  the  ground  in  spring. 
When  the  frost  breaks  up,  throw  some  wood 
ashes,  or,  some  other  manure  about  an  inch 
deep  over  the  bed,  having  first  loosened  the  top 
of  the  bed,  with  a  fork,  Upon  this  manure,  throw 


112  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

earth  over  the  bed,  out  of  the  paths,  three  inches 
thick,  and  break  it  very  fine  at  the  time.  In  the 
fall,  cut  down  the  haulm  again  as  before  ;  repeat 
the  winter  operation  of  littering ;  and,  in  the  spring 
again  fork  up,  put  on  ashes  or  good  mould,  and 
the  other  three  inches  deep,  of  earth  out  of  the 
paths.  Thus  you  bring  the  beds  to  be  an  inch 
or  two  higher  than  the  paths  ;  and  this  year,  if 
your  work  have  all  been  well  done,  you  may  have 
some  asparagus  to  eat.  The  next  fall,  and  every 
succeeding  fall,  cut  down  the  haulm  and  cover 
with  litter  as  before  ;  and,  in  the  spring,  of  this 
third  year,  put  on  ashes  again,  or  other  fine  ma- 
nure, and  throw  over  the  beds  the  earth  that  will 
come  out  of  the  paths  dug  six  inches  deep.  This 
will  make  the  paths  six  inches  lower  than  the 
beds,  and  that  is  a  great  convenience  for  weeding' 
and  for  cutting  the  Asparagus.  After  this,  you 
are  to  cut  down  the  haulm  in  the  fall,  cover  with 
litter  during  winter,  fork  up  and  occasionally  ma- 
nure in  the  spring,  to  keep  the  ground  constantly 
free  from  weeds,  to  dig  the  paths  up  every  fall, 
and  keep  them  clear  from  weeds  in  summer.— 
The  second  method  of  making  the  beds  is  to  begin 
vf'i.hfilants,  instead  of  seed.  The  plants  (raised  as 
above  stated)  may  be  planted  in  the  beds  at  one 
year  old,  or  older,  if  it  so  happen.  Plant  them 
at  the  same  depth  that  is  pointed  out  for  deposit' 
ing  the  seed.  And,  in  all  other  respects,  proceed 
as  in  the  case  of  a  bed  begun  with  seed.  As  to  the 
time  of  beginning  to  cut,  some  say  the  third  year, 
some  the  fourth,  and  some  even  the  fifth.  There 
can  be  wo  fixed  time  ;  for,  so  much  depends  on  the 
soil  and  treatment.  Asparagus,  like  other  things, 
ought  to  be  used  when  it  comes  in  perfection,  and 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  113 

not  before. — All  that  has  here  been  said  proceeds 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  soil  has  a  dry  bot- 
tom\  If  a  wet  bottom,  sow,  or  plant,  at  the  top. 
of  the  groundy  and,  in  all  other  respects  proceed 
as  in  the  case  of  a  dry  bottom ;  except,  that'the 
earth  to  cover  the  bed  with  must,  tnxfe  after  time, 
be  dugout  of  the  paths,  which  will,  at  last,  make 
the  paths  into  ditches,  three  feet  deep  from  the 
tops  of  the  beds.  By  these  means  the  roots  of  the 
plants  will  be  kept  some  years  longer  from  reach- 
ing the  cold,  sour  soil  at  the  bottom  ;  for,  when- 
ever they  reach  that,  the  plants,  like  all  others, 
cease  to  flourish,  and  begin  to  decay. — As  tothe 
time  that  asparagus  beds  will  last,  that  depends 
on  the  soil.  Having  a  dry  bottom  and  good  ma- 
nagement, they  will  probably  last  three  genera* 
tions,  and  if  that  be  not  enough  to  compensate  the 
trouble  of  making  them,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  compensation.  The  general  cause  of  the  decay 
of  Asparagus-beds  is,  negligence;  and,  particularly 
the  want  of  attention  to  keep  them  clear  of  weeds, 
which,  without  doubt,  are  the  greatest  enemies  of 
the  plants.  These  send  their  roots  down  deep ; 
but,  they  rely  also  on  the  ground  at  the  surface. 
The  lucern -\  which  will  send  its  roots  down 
thirty  feet  into  a  dry  bottom,  and  will  live  in 
vigour  for  an  age,  if  kept  clean  at  top ;  will, 
though  in  the  best  and  most  suitable  soil  in  the 
world,  perish  in  a  few  years,  if  grass  and  weeds 
be  suffered  to  grow  amongst  it  on  the  surface. 
Sea  sand,  where  it  can  be  had,  is  as  good  as 
ashes,  except  the  beds  are  very  near  the  sea  ; 
and  there  it  is  of  little  use. — With  regard  to 
$or(8,  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  dill  ;  euce, 
except  such  as  climate  produces.  It  is  very  cer- 
10* 


114  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

tain,  that,  to  whatever  cause  owing,  the  Aspam- 
gus  here,  though  so  little  care  is,  in  general, 
taken  of  it,  is  far  superior  to  that  in  England. 
From  our  frequently  meeting  with  it  at  a  great 
distance  from  all  houses,  there  is  reason  to  sup- 
pose, that  it  is  a  natural  weed  of  the  country ; 
and,  therefore,  it  may  differ  from  the  English 
sort,  as  the  Charlock  and  some  other  weeds  do. 
In  England  the  Charlock  has  a  leaf  like  that  of 
the  white  turnip, ;  here  it  has  a  leaf  the  colour  of 
th^t  of  an  early  York  cabbage ;  that  is  to  say,  of 
a  blue-green  colour.  There  may  be  a  difference 
between  the  Asparagus  of  America  and  that  of 
Europe :  at  any  rate,  I  will  ascertain  the  fact ; 
for,  I  will  carry  some  seed  to  England. — As  to 
the  space  which  the  beds  ought  to  occupy,  that 
must  depend  on  the  size  of  the  family,  who  are  to 
eat  the  Asparagus.  Plenty ,  however,  is  always 
a  blessing  when  the  commodity  is  a  good  one. 
About  six  beds  across  one  of  the  Plats  will  be 
sufficient  for  any  family.  They  might  be  at  the 
west  end  of  Plat,  No  6,  that  being  the  warm- 
est.— Asparagus  may  be  had  in  winter  with 
the  greatest  facility.  There  are  but  few  things 
that  are  worth  the  trouble  of  a  hot  bed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  them  to  eat  in  their  opposite  season, 
but,  Asparagus  is  worth  it.  And  this  is  the  way 
to  have  it  for  the  table,  even  in  February,  that 
month  of  snow  and  of  north-westers.  Sow  some 
seed  in  the  garden,  in  the  manner  before  des- 
cribed, the  rows  a  foot  a&under,  and  the  plants 
four  inches  apart  in  the  row.  Keep  them  clean 
and  manure  them  the  first  year.  Cut  the  haulm  off 
in  the  fall.  Do  not  cover  them  during  winter.  In 
t^e  spring  fork  up  the  ground,  manure  it  again  ; 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  115 

and,  in  the  fall  cut  off  the  haulm  again.  Just 
before  the  frost  sets  in,  take  up  as  many  plants  as 
you  will  want  for  your  hot-bed.  Dig  each  plant 
up  without  tearing  it  about ;  and  put  them  all 
carefully  on  a  cellar  floor,  cover  them  over  about 
half  a  foot  thick  with  fresh  ground,  and  lay  some 
straw  upon  that  to  prevent  the  earth  from  drying 
too  much.  In  January  prepare  dung  for  a  hot- 
bed ;  and  make  the  bed  in  the  manner  as  directed 
in  Paragraphs  69  to  74.  When  the  heat  has  suf- 
ficiently risen,  put  on  earth  as  in  Paragraphs  75 
and  76.  Upon  this  earth  put  your  plants,  straight- 
ening out  their  roots  in  every  direction,  Let  the 
growns  of  the  roots  be  about  7  inches  apart  all 
over  the  bed.  which,  being  a  bed  four  feet  wide, 
and  nine  feet  long,  will  contain  180  plants.  Cover 
the  plants  over  with  fine  earth,  so  that  the  sur- 
face of  this  earth  be  six  inches  above  the  crowns 
of  the  plants.  Proceed  as  to  air,  shelter,  and  con- 
vering  in  the  same  way  as  directed  for  the  cab- 
bage-plants In  about  twelve,  or  fourteen  days,  you 
may  begin  to  cut  asparagus  for  the  table  ;  and, 
if  you  take  proper  care,  and  keep  your  heat  up  by 
a  lining  (see  Paragaph  93,)  you  may  have  a 
regular  supply  for  a  month.  When  the  plants 
have  done  bearing  here,  they  are  of  no  use,  and 
may  be  thrown  away.  Of  all  the  things  that  are 
forced  in  hot-beds,  none  give  so  little  trouble  as 
Asparagus,  and  none  is  so  well  worth  a  great 
deal  of  trouble. 

194.  BALM  is  a  herb  purely  medicinal.  A 
very  little  of  it  is  sufficient  in  a  garden,  it  is  pro- 
pagated from  seed,  or  from  offsets.  When  once 
planted,  the  only  care  required  is  te  see  that  it 
does  not  extend  itself  too  far. 


116  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

195.  BASIL  is  a  very  sweet  annual  pot-herb. 
There  are  two  sorts,  the  dwarf  and  the  tall.  It 
should  be  sown  in  very  fine  earth,  and,  if  conve- 
nient, under  a  hand-glass.  The  bunches  may  be 
dried  for  winter  use. 

196.  BEAN. — The  only  species  of  bean  much 
used  in  this  country,  is,  that,  which,  in  England, 
is  called  Kidney  -Bean,  and  in  France,  Haricot. 
Of  these  I  shall  speak  in  the  next  article.  The 
Bean  I  here  mean  is,  what  is  called  by  most  per- 
sons in  America  the  horse-dean.  In  England 
there  are  some  sorts  of  this  bean  used  for  horses 
and  hogs ;  but  there  are  several  sorts  used  as 
human  food.  It  is,  at  best,  a  coarse  and  not  yery 
wholesome  vegetable;  yet  some  people  like  it.  It 
is  very  much  eaten  by  the  country  people  of 
England,  with  their  bacon,  along  with  which  it 
is  boiled.  There  are  several  sorts  of. these 
garden-beans,  the  best  of  which  is  the  large 
flat  seeded  bean,  called  the  Windsor-Bean.  .The 
Long  Pod  is  the  next  best;  and  though  there 
are  several  others,  these  are  enough  to  mention 
here. — The  bean  is  difficult  to  raise  here.  It 
does  not  like  dry  and  hot  weather  ;  and  it  likes 
moist  and  stiff  land.  If  attempted  to  be  raised 
in  America,  it  should  be  sown  in  the  fall  by  all 
means  (see  Paragraph  159  ;)  but,.still  it  is  useless 
to  sow,  unless,  you  guard  against  mice.  If  sown 
in  the  South  Border,  where  it  would  be  shaded 
and  protected  from  the  hot, sun,  it  might  do  pretty 
well ;  and  the  vegetable  is  convenient,  as  it  follows 
immediately  after  the  early  peas  are  gone.~Ten 
rows  of  these  beans  across  the  South  Border, 
four  feet  apart,  and  the  beans  four  inches  apart, 
will  be  enough  for  a  family. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  117 

19r,  BEAN  (KIDNEY.)— Endless  is  th* 
variety  of  sorts.  Some  are  dwarfs,  some  climbers; 
fcut,  the  mode  of  propagating  and  cultivating  is 
nearly  the  same  in  all,  except  that  the  dwarfs 
fequire  smaller  distances  than  the  climbers,  and 
that  the  latter  are  grown  with  poles,  which  the 
former  are  not.  In  this  fine  country  the  seed  is 
so  good,  the  soil  and  climate  so  favourable  to  the 
plant,  the  use  of  the  vegetable  so  general,  the 
propagation  and  cultivation  so  easy,  and  so  well 
understood,  that  little  in  detail  need  be  said  about 
them.  I  prefer  sowing  the  dwarfs  in  rows  to 
sowing  them  in  bunches  or  clumps.  It  is  a  great 
object  to  have  them  early,  and,  they  may  be  had 
much  earlier  than  they  usually  are  with  a  little 
pains.  It  is  useless  to  sow  them  while  the  ground 
is  cold;  for  they  will  not  grow  till  it  be  warm ;  but, 
there  are  means  to  be  used  to  get  them  forwarder 
than  the  natural  ground  will  produce  them.  If  you 
have  a  glazed  frame,  or  a  hand-glass  or  two  (see 
Paragraph  94,)  use  one  or  the  other  in  this  case  ; 
but,  if  not,  dig  a  hole  and  put  in  it,  well-shaken 
together,  a  couple  of  wheel-barrows  full  of  good 
hot  dung;  and  lay  some  good  rich  mould  upon 
it  six  inches  thick.  Then  lay  on  this  some  of  the 
earliest  sort  of  dwarf-beans.  Put  them  not  more 
than  an  inch  apart,  and  cover  them  with  two 
inches  of  fine  rich  mould.  Bend  some  rods  over 
the  whole,  and  put  the  ends  of  the  rods  in  the 
ground ;  and  every  evening,  cover  this  sort  of 
roof  over  with  a  bit  of  old  carpet  or  sail-cloth. 
In  default  of  these,  corn-stalks  may  do.  Do  this 
when  the  winter  frost  is  just  got  out  of  the  ground, 
or  soon  after.  The  beans  will  be  up  in  a  week's 
time ;  and,  in  about  a  fortnight  afterwards,  the}* 


118  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

will  be  fit  to  remove.  The  place  for  them  is 
under  a  wall,  a  pailing,  or  a  hedge,  facing  the 
South.  Prepare  the  ground  well  and  make  it 
rich.  Take  a  spade  and  carry  away  a  part  of 
the  beans  at  a  time,  and  plant  them  at  six  inches 
asunder  with  as  much  earth  about  the  roots  as 
you  can.  Plant  them  a  little  deeper  than  they 
stood  in  the  bed.  They  are  very  juicy,  and  may 
have  a  Vttle  water  given  them  as  soon  as  planted. 
Shade  them  the  first  day,  if  the  weather  be  warm 
and  the  sun  out;  and.  cover  them  every  night  till 
all  frosts  be  over.  This  is  easily  done,  if  against 
any  sort  of  fence,  by  putting  boards,  one  edge 
upon  the  ground  and  the  other  leaning  against 
the  fence  ;  but,  if  you  have  no  fence,  and  have 
to  plant  in  the  open  ground,  it  will  be  best  to 
plant  in  clumps,  and  flower-pots  put  over  the 
clumps  will  do  for  a  covering.  In  Long  Island  a 
clod  or  two,  or  a  brick  or  two,  laid  by  the  sid-  of 
the  clumps,  will  hold  up  a  large  horse  foot  Jish 
sfatlli  which  is  an  excellent  covering.  On  the 
hrst  of  June,  1817,  I  saw  a  farmer  at  South 
Hempstead,  covering  his  beans,  with  b'-rr-ciock 
leaves,  while  there  were  hundreds  of  ho  e-foot 
shells  in  his  yard.  The  dock  leaf  wou.d  w  th  r 
i'  the  day.  A  fresh  supply  must  be  had  for  the 
next  night.  This  circumstance  shows,  however, 
how  desirous  people  are  to  get  this  vegetable 
early;  and,  by  the  method  that  I  have  pointed 
out,  it  may  b"  had  fifteen  days,  at  least,  earlier 
than  it  generally  is. — As  to  the  main  crofi,  it  is 
by  no  means  advisable  to  sow  very  early.  If  you 
do,  the  seed  lies  long  in  the  ground,  which  is 
always  injuriou  to  this  plant.  The  plants  come 
up  feebly.    The  cold  weather,  that  occasionally 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  119 

comes,  makes  them  look  yellow  ;  and  they,  then 
never  produce  a  fine  crop. — Of  the  various  sorts 
of  pole  beans  one  sowing  is  enough ;  for,  if  you 
gather  as  the  beans  become  fit  for  use,  they  con- 
tinue bearing  all  through  the  summer,  especially 
the  Z.2/7za-bean,  which  delights  in  heat^  and  for 
which  no  weather  can  be  too  dry  ;  and  which 
should  never  be  sown  till  the  ground  be  right 
warm.  The  Dwarf  sorts  may  be  sown  all  sum- 
mer, from  the  time  that  the  ground  becomes 
warm  to  within  seven  weeks  of  the  time  that  the 
little  frosts  begin  in  the  fall  ;  for,  they  will,  at 
this  season,  produce,  for  eating  green,  in  six  weeks 
from  the  day  of  sowing.  I  sowed  them  on  the 
15th  of  August,  and  had  several  gatherings  to  eat 
green  before  the  2d  of  October  when  the  Jirst 
fr ost  came.  They  were  not  cut  up  by  the  frost 
till  the  17th  of  October;  and  they  kept  bearing 
till  they  were. — A  row  or  two  sown  every  fort- 
night, across  one  of  the  Plats  (see  Paragraph  60) 
will  keep  any  family,  however  large,  well  sup- 
plied. And,  perhaps  twenty  rows,  across  one 
of  the  Plats,  for  pole-beans  of  all  the  sorts  that 
are  desired,  will  be  more  than  sufficient.  It  is 
best  to  sow  several  sorts  of  these;  for  some  bear 
early  and  some  later  than  others. — As  to  the  sorts 
of  Kidney  beans,  they  are,  as  I  observed  before, 
almost  endless  in  number.  I  will,  however,  name 
a  few:  the  Duny  or  Drab  coloured  dwarf  beam  is 
the  earliest.  The  same  ground  will  bear  and 
rip.cn  two  crops  in  one  year,  the  last  from  the 
seed  of  the  first.  The  Yellow;  the  Black;  the 
Speckled;  the  Painted;  white  and  red:  these 
are  all  dwarfs ;  but  there  are  a  great  many  others. 
Amongst  runners,  or  pole-beans,  there  are  the 


i2*  AMERICAN  GARDENER, 

Scarlet-blossom,  the  seed  of  which  is  red  and 
black  and  the  seed-pod  rough.  There  is  a  White 
bean  precisely  like  the  former,  except  that  the 
bean  and  blossom  are  white.  The  Case-knife 
bean,  which,  in  England,  is  called  the  Dutch- 
runner;  this  is  the  best  bean  of  all  to  eat  green. 
Then  there  is  the  Cranberry-bean  of  various  co- 
lours as  to  seed.  The  Zima-bean,  which  is  never 
eaten  green  (that  is,  the  fiod  is  never  eaten,)  andl 
which  is  sometimes  called  the  butter-bean,  has  a 
broad,  flat  and  thin  seed  of  a  yellowish-white 
colour.  This  bean  must  never  be  sown  till  the 
ground  is  right  warm.  The  other  sorts  will  grow 
and  bear  well  in  England ;  but  this  sort  will  not. 
I  raised  good  and  ripe  Indian  Corn  at  Botley  ; 
but,  I  never  could  bring  a  Lima-bean,  to  per- 
fection, though  I  put  it  in  the  hottest  spot  I  could 
find,  and  though  cucumbers  produced  very  well 
in  the  natural  ground  at  a  yard  or  tw©  from  it.— 
For  the  raising  of  dwarf  beans  on  a  large  scale^ 
see  paragraphs  163  and  164.  The  pole-beans  may 
be  raised  in  the  same  way, only  with  larger  spaces 
(six  feet  perhaps)  between  the  rows,  and  without 
any  fioles  at  alL  The  seed  for  sale  is  raised 
in  this  way  even  in  England,  where  the  climate 
is  so  cold  and  wet  compared  to  this.  The  poling 
is  a  great  plague  and  expense;  and  if  large 
quantities  be  raised,  it  may  be  dispensed  with  z 
Day  it  may  be  dispensed  with  in  a  garden ;  for 
poles  look  ugly  there ;  they  intercept  the  view  ; 
and  the  addition  they  make  to  the  crop  is  not 
a  compensation  even  for  ill  look,  especially  under 
this  bright  sun,  where  the  ground  is  almost  con- 
stantly dry +— Let  it  be  observed,  that  every  sorfr 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  121 

of  Kidney-bean  must  have  rich  ground  to  produce 
a  large  crop. 

198.  BEET.— This  vegetable,  which  is  little 
used  in  England,  is  here  in  as  common  use  as 
carrots  are  there.  It  should  be  sown  in  the  fall 
(see  Paragraph  159  ;)  but,  if  not,  as  soon  as  the 
ground  is  free  from  frost,  and  is  dry,  in  the  spring. 
The  rows  a  foot  apart  and  the  plants  eight  inches 
apart  in  the  rows.  In  order  to  hasten  the  seed 
up  in  the  spring  (if  sown  then)  soak  it  four  days 
and  nights  in  rain  water  before  you  sow  it.  Put 
it  two  inches  deep,  cover  it  well,  and  press  the 
earth  hard  down  upon  it.  Sow  the  seed  pretty 
thick  all  along  the  drill ;  and,  when  the  plants 
come  up,  thin  them  to  eight  inches  apart.  Hoe 
between  the  plants  frequently  ;  but  not  very  deep.; 
because  these  tap  rooted  things  are  apt  to  fork 
if  the  ground  be  made  loose  very  low  down  while 
they  are  growing. — There  are  yellow  and  white 
Beets,  as  well  as  red ;  but  the  red  is  the  true 
kind  :  the  others  are  degenerate.  There  is,  how- 
ever, round,  or  turnip-rooted ,  red  beet,  which  is 
equally  good  with  the  tap-rooted-beet. — The 
ground  should  be  rich,  but  not  fresh  dunged. 
Ashes  of  wood,  or  compost  mould,  is  best ;  and 
the  digging  ought  to  be  very  deep  and  all  the 
clods  ought  to  be  broken  into  fine  earth  ;  because 
the  clods  turn  the  point  of  the  root  aside,  and 
make  the  tap  short,  or  forked.  Fresh  Dungy 
which,  of  course,  lies  in  unequal  qualities  in 
the  ground,  invites  the  tap  root,  or  some  of  the 
side  roots  to  it,  and  thus  causes  a  short  or  forked 
beet,  sfrhjch,  for  several  reasons,  is  not  so  good 
as  a  long  and  smooth  one. — As  to  the  preserving 
of  beets  during  the  winter,  it  is  well  known,  that 
11 


122  AMERICAN  GARt)ENE#. 

the  way  is  to  put  them  in  a  dry  cellar,  with  dry 
sand  between  them,  or  indeed,  without  sand  or 
any  thir.gat  all  between  them.  They  may,  if  in 
large  quantities,  and  not  wanted  till  spring,  be 
preserved  out  of  doors,  thus :  Take  them  up 
three  weeks  before  the  hard  frost  is  to  come. 
Cut  off  their  leaves ;  let  them  lay  two  or  three 
days  upon  straw,  or  boards,  to  dry  in  the  sun  -r 
then  lay  a  little  straw  upon  the  ground,  and,  in 
a  fine  dry  day,  place  ten  bushels  of  beets  (picking 
out  all  the  cut  or  bruised  ones)  upon  it  in  a  co- 
nical form.  Put  a  little  straw  smoothly  over  the 
heap;  then  cover  the  whole  with  six  or  eight 
inches  of  earth  ;  and  place  a  green  turf  at  the 
top  to  prevent  the  earth  from  being  washed,  by 
rain,r-om  the  point,  before  the  frost  set  in.  All 
the  whole  heap  will  freeze  during  the  winter  ; 
but,  the  frost  will  not  injure  the  beets,  nor  will  it 
injure  Carrots,  preserved  in  the  same  way.— If 
you  have  more  than  ten  bushels,  make  another 
heap,  or  other  heaps  ;  for  fear  of  heating  before 
the  frost  comes.  When  that  comes,  all  is  safe 
till  spring  ;  and,  it  is  in  the  sfiring,  that  season 
of  scarcity,  for  which  we  ought  to  provide.  How 
many  bushels  of  beets  are  flung  about  and 
wasted  in  the  fall,  the  smallest  of  which  would 
be  a  treat  in  the,  month  of  May ! — As  co  the 
quantity  to  be  raised  for  a  family,  eighteen  rows, 
planted  as  above,  across  one  of  the  Plats  (little 
more  than  two  perches  of  ground)  will  produce 
812  beets,  or  nearly  four  for  each  day,  from  the 
"first  of  Nove  mber  to  the  last  of  May  ;  and,  if 
they  are  of  he  size  that  they  ought  to  be,  here 
are  much  :  ore  than  enough.  Beets  may  be 
transplanted ,  and  will,  in  that  way,  get  to  a  good 
size.    See  Transplanting,  Paragraph  169. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  123 

199.  BROCOLL— This  plant  is  not  much  cul- 
tivated in  America  ;  and,  indeed,  scarcely  at  all. 
In  England  it  is  grown  in  great  quantities,  espe- 
cially near  London.  It  is  there  sown  in  the 
spring,  and  eaten  in  the  fall  and  during  the  win- 
ter, even  until  spring.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  the 
Cauliflower,  which  see.  One  sort  has  a  whitish 
head,  and  is  like  a  cauliflower,  except  that  th-e 
white  is  &  yellow-white.  Another  sort  has  afiur- 
file  head  ;  and  there  is  another  of  a  greenish  hue. 
It  is  cultivated,  in  all  respects  like  a  Cabbage 
(which  see)  ;  but,  as  it  is  large,  it  must  be  pla- 
ced at  wider  distances,  not  less  than  two  feet  and 
a  half  each  way.  If  raised  very  early  in  the 
spring  and  planted  out  in  June,  and  in  good 
ground,  as  cool  as  can  be  got,  it  will  have  heads 
in  October  ;  and,  if  any  of  the  plants  have  not 
then  perfected  their  heads,  when  the  hard  frost 
is  coming,  they  may  be  treated  like  those  of  the 
spring  sown  cauliflowers  which  have  not  perfect- 
ed their  heads  at  this  season.  Fifty  of  this  plant, 
for  the  fall,  may  be  enough  ;  and  they  ought  to 
be  planted  out  in  the  South  Border  in  order  to  be 
kept  as  cool  as  possible.  The  white  sort  is  deem- 
ed the  handsomest ;  but,  the  others  are  more 
hardy. — To  have  Brocoli  in  the  sfiring  ;  that  is 
to  say,  in  May  (for  New  York)  is  the  thing  .' — 
The  thing  may  be  done  ;  for  I  had  some  pretty 
go©d  in  May  1818. — Sow  in  June.  Transplant  in 
July  ;  put  the  plants  at  2^  feet  apart  Till  well 
between  ;  and  earth  up  the  stems  of  the  plants 
in  August.  They  will  be  very  tall  and  stout,  in 
good  gruund,  in  November  ;  and  a  sharp  frost  or 
two  will  not  hurt  them.  But,  to  keep  them 
through  the  winter  is  a  troublesome  thing.    Nev- 


124  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

ertheless,  to  have  them  at  New  York  or  Boston 
in  May,  and,  at  Philadelphia  late  in   April  ;  to 
have  something  little    short  of  a  cauliflower  at 
that  season  is  worth  some  trouble,  and  even  some 
expense;  for,  at  that  very  season,  the  people  of 
New  York,  are  carrying  home  wild  dock  leaves 
from   market,  bought   at  three  or  four   cents  a 
handful !     This  is  the  way  to  go  to  work  to  have 
Brocoli  at  this  season.     Five  rows,  across  one  of 
the  Plats  in  the  garden,  will  contain  110  plants. 
The  space  they  will  occupy  will  be  56  ieet   ong, 
and  10£  feet  wide  from  out-side  row  to   out-side 
row.     Now,  all  this  space  must  have  a  covering 
during  the  time   that  the  ground  is  completely 
locked  uji  by  the  frost.     And   this   is  the  way  to 
cover  it.    Before  the  ground  be  hard  frozen,  put 
some  stout  stakes  in  the  ground  on  both  oui-siaes 
of  the  out  side  rows,  and  at  about  a  footirom  the 
stems  of  the  plants,     Let  these   stakes  be  about 
a  foot  higher  than  the  to/is  of  the  leaves   of  the 
plants  ;  and  that  will  make  the  stakes  about  tour 
feet  high.    Let  these  stakes  (which  should  not 
be  less  than  three  inches  through)  have  a  fork  at 
the  upper  end  to  lodge  a  pole  upon  to  go  from 
stake  to  stake  across  the  plantation.     That  these 
poles  may  not  bend  in  the  middle,  by  and  by,f 
when  the  covering  is  put  on,  put  another  row  *o 
forked  stakes  along  the  middle,  or  near  the  mid7 
die   of  the   plantation.     From   out-side    row    o; 
stakes  to  out-side  of  stakes  will  be  twelve   fee 
ana  a  halt.    The  stakes  are  to  be  four  feet  asun- 
der in  the  long  rows,  and  they  will  be   about  six 
feet  asunder   across  the   plantation.    Lay  stout 
poles  across,  and  let  each  pole  rest  in  the  forks 
of  the  three  stakes.    Then  tie  some  stout  rods 


A1N 

longways  up 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  125 

ongways  upon  the  poles,  at  about  nine  inches 
from  each  other.  Then  some  small  rods  across 
them  at  nine  inches  from  each  other.  Then  tie 
small  rods  along  the  sides  and  at  the  ends  from 
stake  to  stake,  nine  inches  apart,  and  upright 
rods  against  these,  nine  inches  apart.  Thus  you 
have  a  sort  of  net-work  over  the  whole  planta- 
tion. And,  there  let  it  stand,  till  the  rains  are 
over,  and  until  the  winter  is  fairly  set  in,  which 
at  New  York,  may  be  about  Christmas.  When 
all  is  frozen  hard  up,  cover  close  over  the  lattice 
work  a  foot  thick  with  straw,  at  the  leasts  and 
lay  on  something  to  prevent  the  straw  from  mo- 
ving. Then  set  up  straw,  or  corn  stalks,  against 
the  sides  and  the  ends  of  the  erection.  Place 
the  straw  or  stalks  a  foot  thick  at  least,  and  fas- 
ten them  well  up,  so  as  to  keep  out,  not  the  frost 
but  all  light  and  all  occasional  thaws  from  enter- 
ing. Thus  let  the  whole  remain  till  the  break* 
ing  up  of  the  frost  :  and  then  take  all  away.  Do 
not  wait  till  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground  y  but, 
take  away  as  soon  as  the  grand  breaking  up 
comes.  You  will  rind  the  plantation  as  green  as 
it  was  when  you  closed  it  up.  This  will  be  about 
the  middle  of  March  (Long  Island  ;.)  and  though 
there  will  be  many  and  sharp  frosts  after  this, 
these  will  not  injure  the  plants.  As  soon  as  the 
ground  is  dry  at  top,  hoe  deep,  amongst  the  plants  ; 
hoe  again  in  about  ten  days  ;  and  again  in  anoth- 
er ten  days  ;  and,  about  the  first  week  in  May% 
or  in  the  second  at  latest,  you  will  begin  to  cut 
Brr«coH  to  eat.  The  heads  will  come  in  one  after 
another  ;  and,  recollect,  that  you  have  110  heads, 
which  is  nearly  4  a  day  for  a  ihonth  ;  and  this, 
you  will  observe,  at  a  season,  when  people  are 
11* 


12<5  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

glad  to  buy  dock -leaves  to  eat !  When  we  talk 
of  trouble^  what  is  trouble  but  labour  ;  and  what 
is  labour  but  a  thing  to  be  bought  ?  I  am  suppo- 
sing a  case  where  a  gardener  is  kept  ;  and,  pray, 
what  has  he  else  to  do  >  But,  suppose  a  man  to 
be  hired  expressly,  would  he  not  go  to  the  wood 
and  get  the  materials  and  make  the  lattice  work 
in  a  day  ?  Would  it  take  him  more  than  anoth- 
er day  to  lay  on  the  straw  ?  Here,  then,  are  two 
dollars  ;  and,  supposing  the  straw  and  the  stakes 
and  poles  and  rods  to  be  bought ',  the  straw  would 
be  nearly  as  good  for  litter  afterwards,  and  the 
poles,  stakes  and  rods  would  last  for  many  years, 
if  tied  up  in  bundles  and  laid  safely  away  from 
winter  to  winter. 

200.  BURNET  is  a  well  known  grass,  or  cat- 
tle plant.  It  is  used  by  some  in  salacs.  When 
bruised,  or  cut,  it  smells  like  cucumber.  It  is  a 
perennial,  and  a  very  poor  thing. 

201.  CABBAGE.— The  way  to  raise  Cabbage 
Plants  in  a  hot-bed  has  been  given  in  Paragraphs 
77  to  96. — In  the  open  ground  you  may  put  your 
seed  rows  at  six  inches  distance,  and  put  the 
seeds  thin  in  the  row.  As  soon  as  up,  thin  the 
plants  to  three  inches  in  the  row.  The  next 
thing  is  transplanting  ;  and  I  will  speak  of  that 
before  I  speak  of  seasons,  sorts,  and  preserving 
during  winter. — Of  the  preparation  and  state  of 
the  ground,  and  of  the  proper  weather,  for  trans- 
planting, I  have  spoken  in  Paragraphs  169  to  175. 
Read  those  paragraphs  carefully  again,  and  bear 
their  contents  in  mind.  But,  to  have  fine  cab- 
bages, of  am  sort,  the  plants  must  be  twice  trans- 
planted. First,  they  should  be  taken  from  the 
seed  bed  (where  they  have  been  sown  in  drills 


AMERICAN  AARDENER.  127 

near  to  each  other,)  and  put  out  into  fresh-dug, 
well  broken  ground,  at  six  inches  apart  every 
way.  This  is  caUed  pricking  out.  By  standing 
here  about  fifteen  or  twenty  days,  they  get  straight 
and  strong,  stand  erect,  and  have  a  straight  and 
stout  stem.  Out  of  this  plantation  they  come 
nearly  all  of  a  size  ;  the  roots  of  all  are  in  the 
same  state  ;  and,  they  strike  quicker  into  the 
ground  where  they  are  to  stand  for  a  crop. — 
But,  if  you  do  not,  whether  from  negligence  or 
want  of  time,  prick  your  plants  out,  choose  the 
strongest,  if  you  do  not  want  them  all  ;  and, 
at  any  rate,  do  not  plant  strong  and  weak  pro- 
miscuously, but  put  each  by  themselves.  If  you 
do  not  intend  to  prick  out,  leave  the  plants,  thin- 
ner in  the  seed  bed,  and  hoe  deep  between  them 
while  they  stand  there.  Besides  this  you  may  pass 
a  sharp,  spade  along  under  the  rows,  and  cut  off 
the  tap-roots  ;  for  they  must  be  shortened  when 
the  plants  are  transplanted.  This,  if  done  a  week 
or  ten  days  before  transplanting  will  give  the  plants 
a  more  bushy  root  ;  and  will,  in  some  measure, 
supply  the  place  of  pricking  out. — Having  the 
plants  ready  for  transplanting  ;  and  having  the 
ground  and  weather  as  described  in  Paragraph 
170,  you  proceed  to  your  work,  thus  :  dig  the 
plants  up,  that  is,  loosen  the  ground  under  them 
with  a  spade,  to  prevent  their  being  stripped  too 
much  of  their  roots.  Put  them  in  rows  of  course.. 
The  setting-stick  should  be  the  upper  part  of  a 
spade  or  shovel  handle.  The  eye  of  the  spade 
is  the  handle  of  the  stick.  From  the  bottom  of 
the  eye  to  the  point  of  the  stick  should  be  about 
nine  inches  in  length.  The  stick  should  not  be 
tapering  ;  but  nearly  of  equal  thickness  all  the 


J28  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

way  down,  to  within  an  inch  and  a  half  of  the 
point,  where  it  must  be  tapered  off  to  the  point. 
If  the  wood  be  cut  away  all  round,  to  the  thick- 
ness of  a  dollar,  and  iron  put  round  in  its  stead, 
it  makes  a  very  complete  tool.  The  iron  becomes 
bright,  and  the  earth  does  not  adhere  to  it,  as  it 
does  to  wood.  Having  the  plant  in  one  hand,  and 
the  stick  in  the  other,  make  a  hole  suitable  to  the 
root  that  it  is  to  receive.  Put  in  the  root  in  such 
way  as  that  the  earth,  when  pressed  in,  will  be  on 
a  level  with  the  butt-ends  of  the  lower,  or  outward 
leaves  of  the  plant.  Let  the  plant  be  rather  higher 
than  lower  than  this  ;  for,  care  must  be  taken  not 
to  put  the  plant  so  low  as  for  the  earth  to  fall,  or 
be  washed,  into  the  heart  of  the  plant,  nor  even 
into  the  inside  of  the  bottom  leaves.  The  stem  of 
a  cabbage,  and  stems  of  all  the  cabbage  kind, 
send  out  roots  from  all  the  parts  of  them  that  are 
put  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground.  It  is  good, 
therefore,  to  plant  as  deep  as  you  can  without 
injury  to  the  leaves. — The  next  consideration  is, 
the  fastening  of  the  filant  in  the  ground.  I  can- 
not do  better  than  repeat  here  what  I  have  said 
in  my  Year's  Residence,  Paragraphs  83  and  84  : 
44  The  hole  is  made  deeper  than  the  length  of  the 
**  roots ;  but  the  root  should  not  be  bent  at  the 
"  point,  if  it  can  be  avoided.  Then,  while  one 
"  hand  holds  the  plant,  with  its  root  in  the  hole, 
44  the  other  hand  applies  the  setting  stick  to  the 
44  earth  on  one  side  of  the  hole,  the  stick  being 
44  held  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  a  sharp  triangle 
44  with  the  plant.  Then,  pushing  the  stick  down, 
44  so  that  its  point  go  a  little  deeper  than  the 
44  fioint  of  the  root,  and  giving  it  a  little  twist, 
"  it  presses  the  earth  against  the  fioint,  or  bottom 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  129 

"  of  the  root."  And  thus  all  is  safe,  and  the 
plant  is  sure  to  grow.  The  general,  and  almost 
universal,  fault,  is,,  that  the  planter,  when  he 
has  put  the  root  into  the  hole,  draws  the  earth  up 
against  the  upper  part  of  the  root,  and,  if  he 
press  pretty  well  there,  he  thinks  that  the  plant- 
ing is  well  done.  But,  it  is  the  point  of  the  root 
against  which  the  earth  ought  to  be  pressed,  for 
there  the  fibres  are  ;  and,  if  they  do  not  touch  the 
earth  closely ,  the  plant  will  not  thrive.  To  know 
whether  you  have  fastened  the  plant  well  in  the 
ground,  take  the  tip  of  one  of  the  leaves  of  the 
plant  between  your  linger  and  thumb.  Give  a 
pull.  If  the  plant  resist  the  pull,  so  far  as  for  the 
bit  of  leaf  to  come  away,  the  plant  is  properly 
fastened  in  the  ground ;  but,  if  the  pull  bring  up 
the  plant ;  then  you  may  be  sure  that  the  plant- 
ing is  not  well  done.  The  point  of  the  suck  ou^ht 
to  twist  and  press  the  earth  up  close  to  the  fioint 
of  the  root  ;  so  that  there  be  no  hollow  there.— 
Pressing  the  earth  up  against  the  stem  of  the 
plant  is  of  little  use.  As  to  distances  they  must 
be  proportioned  to  the  size  which  the  cabbages 
usually  come  to  ;  and  the  size  (difference  of  soil 
out  of  the  question)  varies  with  the  sort.  How- 
ever, for  the  very  small  sorts,  the  Early  Dwarf 
and  Early  Sea  Green,  a  foot  apart  in  all  direc- 
tions is  enough  ;  for  there  is  no  occasion  to  waste 
garden  ground  ;  and  you  do  not  want  such  things 
30  stand  long,  and  the  plants  are  in  plenty  as  to 
number.  The  next  size  is  the  Early  York,  which 
may  have  16  inches  every  way.  The  Sugar  loaj 
may  have  20  inches  The  Battersea  and  Savoy 
two  feet  and  a  half.  The  large  sorts,  as  the 
Drum-head  and  others,  3   feet  at  least.— Now, 


130  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

£  itli  regard  to  tillage ,  keep  the  ground  clear  jo 
weeds  But,  whether  there  be  weeds  or  not, 
noe  between  the  plants  in  ten  days  after  they  are 
planted.  The  reasons  for  this  are  amply  stated 
in  Paragraphs  176  to  186.  You  cannot  dig  be- 
tween the  plants,  which  stand  at  the  smallest  dis- 
tances ;  but  you  may,  and  ought,  to  dig  once,  if 
not  twice,  during  their  growth,  between  all  the 
rest.  To  prevent  a  sudden  check  by  breaking  all 
the  roots  at  once,  in  hot  weather,  dig  every  other 
interval,  leave  the  rest,  and  dig  them  a  week 
later.  All  the  larger  sorts  of  cabbages  should, 
about  the  time  that  their  heads  are  beginning  to 
form,  be  earthed  up  ;  that  is,  have  the  earth  from 
the  surface  drawn  up  against  the  stem ;  and,  the 
taller  the  plants  are,  the  more  necessary  this  is, 
and  the  higher  should  the  earth  be  drawn.  After 
the  earth  has  been  thus  drawn  up  from  the  sur- 
face, dig,  or  hoe  deep,  the  rest  of  the  ground.— 
Thus  the  crop  will  be  brought  to  perfection. — As 
to  sorts,  the  earliest  is  the  Early  Dwarf  (some- 
times called  the  Early  Salisbury  ;)  the  next  is 
the  Early  Sea  Green',  then  comes  the  Early 
York.  Perhaps  any  one  of  them  may  do  ;  but 
the  first  will  head  ten  days  sooner  than  the  last. 
The  Sugar-loaf,  sweetest  and  richest  of  all  cab- 
bages, if  sown  and  transplanted  when  Early 
Yorks  are,  will  head  nearly  a  month  later.  It  is 
an  excellent  cabbage  to  come  in,  in  July  and 
August.  Some  sown  three  weeks  later  will  carry 
you  through  September  and  October  ;  and  some 
sown  in  June  and  transplanted  in  July,  will  carry 
you  on  till  Christmas.  For  the  winter  use,  there 
really  needs  nothing  but  the  Dwarf  Green  Savoy. 
•When  good  and  true  to  kind  it    is  very   much 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  131 

curled  and  of  a  very  dee/i  green.  It  should  be 
sown  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  at  all  warm,  and 
planted  out  as  soon  as  stout  enough.  By  No 
vember  it  will  have  large  and  close  heads  weigh- 
ing from  5  to  8  pounds  each.  This  is  the  best  of 
all  winter-cabbages.  If  yon  have  Drum-heads^  or 
other  large  cabbages,  the  time  of  sowing  and  that 
of  transplanting  are  the  same  as  those  tor  the 
Savoy.  But,  let  me  observe  here,  that  the  early 
sorts  of  cabbage  keep,  during  winter,  as  well  as 
the  large,  late  sorts.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose, 
that  those  cabbages  only,  which  will  not  come  to 
perfection  till  the  approach  of  winter,  will  keep, 
well.  The  Early  York,  sown  in  June,  will  be 
right  hard  in  November,  and  will  keep  as  well  as 
the  Drum-head,  or  any  of  the  coarse  and  strong- 
smelling  cabbages.  The  Early  Yorks  are  not  so 
big  as  the  Drum-heads  ;  but,  observe,  that  as  the 
former  require  but  16  inches  distance,  and  the 
latter  3  feet,  Jive  of  the  former  stand  on  the 
ground  of  one  of  the  latter.  So  that,  perhaps, 
the  Early  Yorks  will  be  the  largest  cro/i  after  all. 
I  have  tried  the  keeping  of  both  :  and  I  know, 
that  the  fine  cabbages  keep  as  well  as  the  coarse 
ones.  The  Red  Cabbage  is  raised  and  cultivated 
in  the  same  season  and  same  manner  as  the 
Green  Savoy. — There  are  many  other  sorts  of 
cabbage,  early  as  well  as  late  ;  and  they  may  be 
tried  ;  but  those  above-mentioned  are  certainly 
sorts  enough  for  any  family. — The  preserving  of 
cabbages  during  the  winter  is  all  that  remains  to 
be  treated  of  under  the  word  cabbage  ;  but  as 
every  reader  must  know,  it  is  a  matter  of  great 
importance  ;  for,  on  it  depends  the  supply  of  cab- 
bages for  four  months  in  the  year,  North  of  Vir- 


132  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

ginia  and  South  of  Boston,  and  fovsijc  months  in 
the  year  when  you  get  as  far  North  as  the  Pro- 
vince of  New  Brunswick. — The  cellar  is  a  poor 
place.  The  barn  is  worse.  The  cabbages  get 
putrid  parts  about  them.  If  green  vegetables  be 
not  fed  from  the  earth,  and  be  in  an  unfrozen 
state,  they  will  either  wither  or  rot.  Nothing  is 
rfastier  thsinputrid  cabbage  ;  and  one  rotten  cab- 
bage will  communicate  its  offensiveness  to  a  whole 
parcel.  Pits  you  cannot  open  in  winter.  To 
turn  the  heads  down  and  cover  them  with  earth 
while  the  root  stands  up  in  the  air,  is  liable  to  the 
same  objection.  The  cabbages  are  pretty  sate  ; 
but  you  cannot  get  at  them  during  the  winter.  I 
have  tried  all  the  ways  that  I  ever  saw  practised, 
or  that  I  ever  heard  of;  the  following  method 
I  found  to  answer  every  purpose:  it  is  the  su- 
rest preservation,  and  gives  the  least  trouble, 
whether  in  the  putting  together  or  in  the  taking 
away  for  use. — Lay  out  a  piece  of  ground,  four 
feet  wide,  and  in  length  proportioned  to  your 
quantity  of  cabbage  to  be  preserved.  Dig,  on 
each  side  of  it,  a  little  trench,  a  foot  deep,  and 
throw  the  earth  up  on  the  four  feet  bed.  Make 
the  top  of  the  bed  level  and  smooth.  Lay  some 
poles,  or  old  rails,  at  a  foot  apart,  long-ways, 
upon  the  bed.  Then  put  some  smaller  poles,  or 
stout  sticks  cross  ways  on  the  rails  or  poles,  and 
put  these  last  at  five  or  six  inches  apart.  Upon 
these  lay,  corn  stalks,  broom-corn  stalks,  or  twigs 
or  brush  of  trees,  not  very  thick,  but  sufficiently 
thick  just  to  coverall  over.  Make  the  top  flat 
and  smooth.  Then,  just  as  the  frost  is  about  to 
lock  up  the  earth,  take  up  the  cabbages,  knock  all 
dirt  out  of  their  roots,  take  off  all  dead  or  yellow 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  133 

looking  leaves,  and  some  oi  the  out  side  leaves 
besides ;  put  the  cabbages,  head  downwards, 
upon  the  bed,  with  their  roots  sticking  up  ;  and 
cover  them  with  straw  so  thick  as  for  the  straw  to 
come  up  nearly  to  the  root  of  the  cabbage.  Do 
not  pack  them  quite  close.  It  is  better  if  they 
do  not  touch  each  other  much.  Lay  some  bits  of 
wood,  or  brush-wood,  to  prevent  the  straw  from 
blowing  off.  If  the  frost  catch  youy  before  you 
have  got  the  cabbages  up,  cut  them  off  close  to 
the  ground,  and  let  the  stumps,  instead  of  the 
roots,  stick  up  through  the  straw. — Out  of  this 
stack  you  will  take  your  cabbages  perfectly  green 
and  good  in  the  spring,  when  the  frost  breaks  up.  ; 
and  to  this  stack  you  can,  at  all  times  in  the  win- 
ter, go,  with  the  greatest  facility,  and  get  your 
cabbages  for  use,  which  you  can  to  no  other  spe- 
cies of  conservatory  that  I  ever  saw  or  heard  of. 
The  hollow  part  below  the  cabbages  takes  away 
all  wet  that  may  come  from  occasional  rains  or 
meltings  of  snow  ;  and  the  little  ditches  on  the 
sides  of  the  bed  keep  the  bed  itself  free  from 
beingsoaked  with  wet.  Even  if  deep  snows  come 
and  lie  for  months,  as  in  Nova-Scotia,  New 
Brunswick  and  Canada,  it  is  only  removing  the 
snow  a  little  ;  and  here  are  the  cabbages  always 
fresh  and  good. — Immense  quantities,  particu- 
larly in  woody  countries,  may  be  stacked  and  pre- 
served in  this  way,  at  a  very  trifling  expense.  In 
fields  the  side  trenches  would  be  made  with  the 
plough  ;  poles,  in  such  a  case,  are  of  all  sizes, 
always  at  hand  ;  and,  small  brush  wood  might  do 
very  well  instead  of  straw,  t/?r-boughs,  laurel- 
boughs,  or  cedar-boughs,  would  certainly  do  bet- 
ter than  straw  ;  and  where  is  the  spot  in  America, 
12 


134  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

which  has  not  one  of  these  three? — Cabbage 
Stumfis  are  also  to  be  preserved  ;  for  they  are 
very  useful  in  the  spring.  You  have  been  cut- 
ting cabbages  to  eat  in  October  and  November. 
You  leave  the  stumps  standing,  no  matter  what 
be  the  sort.  Take  them  up  before  the  frost  sets 
in  :  trim  off  the  long  roots,  and  lay  the  stumps  in 
the  ground,  in  a  sloping  direction,  row  behind 
row,  with  their  heads  four  or  five  inches  out  of 
ground.  When  the  frost  has  just  set  in  in  earnest, 
and  not  before,  cover  the  stumps  all  over  a  foot 
thick  or  more,  with  straw,  with  corn-stalks,  or 
with  ever-green  boughs  of  some  sort.  As  soon  as 
thejbreaking-up  comes,  take  off  the  covering,  and 
stir  the  ground  (as  sown  as  dry,)  by  hoeing, 
amongst  the  stumps.  They  should  be  placed  in 
an  early  sfiot  ;  in  one  of  the  warmest  places  you 
have  ;  and  they  will  give  you  (at  New  York)  an 
abundance  of  fine  greens  towards  the  end  of  April, 
when  a  handful  of  wild  dock -leaves  sells  in  New 
York  market  for  sixpence  York  money,  which  is 

rather  more  than  an  English  three   pence. 

Lastly,  as  to  the  saving  of  cabbage  seed.  The 
cabbage  is  a  biennial.  It  brings  its  flower  and  its 
seed  the  second  year.  To  have  cabbage  seed, 
therefore,  you  must  preserve  the  cabbage,  head, 
root  and  all,  throughout  the  winter ;  and  this 
must  be  done,  either  in  a  cellar,  or,  under  cover- 
ing  of  some  sort  out  of  doors;  for,  the  root  must 
be  kept  in  the  ground  all  winter.  It  is  possible, 
and,  I  think,  likely,  that  seed  from  the  stump  is 
just  as  good  as  any  ;  but  as  one  single  cabbage 
will  give  seed  enough  for  any  garden  for  three, 
four,  or  five  years,  the  little  pains  that  the  preser- 
vation can  require  is  not  worth  the  smallest  risk. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  loi 

As  to  the  quantity  of  cabbages  wanted  for  a  fami- 
ly, it  must  depend  on  the  size  of  the  family  and  on 
their  taste. 

202.  CALABASH.  An  annual.  Cultivated 
like  the  cucumber,  which  see, 

203.  CALE. — This  is  of  the  cabbage  kind. 
There  are  several  sorts  of  it ;  and,  it  is,  in  all  re- 
spects, propagated  and  cultivated  like  the  Green 
Savoy,  which  see  under  Cabbage. — The  Cale 
does  not  head,  or  have,  but  sends  forth  a  loose, 
open  top,  which  in  England,  is  used  after  the 
frost  has  pinched  it,  and  then  it  sends  out  side- 
shoots  from  its  tall  stem,  which  it  continues  to  do 
if  kept  cropped,  till  May.  In  mild  winter  cli- 
mates it  is  very  useful  and  pleasant.  It  does  not 
get  rotted  by  the  successive  freezings  and  thaw- 
ings,  as  cabbages  do.  It  is  always  green  and 
fresh.  Backward  planted  savoys,  may,  perhaps 
be  as  good  ;  but  the  Cale  is  very  good  too.  It 
will,  I  dare  say,  stand  throughout  some  winters  as 
far  North  as  Philadelphia.  It  is  worth  trying ; 
for  greens  are  very  pleasant  in  winter. — The 
Curled  Cale  is  the  best. — Its  seed  is  saved  like 
that  of  the  cabbage. — There  is  a  sort  of  Cale 
called  Boorcole,  and  a  whole  list  of  things  of 
somewhat  the  same  kind,  but  to  name  them 
would  be  of  no  use. 

204.  CALE  (Sea.)— This  is  a  capital  article. 
Inferior  in  point  of  quality  to  no  vegetable  but 
the  Asfiaragus,  superior  to  that  in  merit  of 
earliness  ;  and,  though  of  the  easiest  possible  pro- 
pagation and  cultivation,  I  have  never  seen  any 
of  it  in  America. — It  is  propagated  by  seed,  and 
also  by  offsets.  The  seed  may  be  sown,  or  the 
young  plants  (at  a  year  old)  planted,  or  the  offsets 


136  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

(little  shoots  from  the  sides  of  the  stems)  planted 
on  the  spot  where  the  crop  is  to  be  produced.—- 
The  mode  of  cultivation  is  in  beds,  precisely  the 
same  in  all  respects  as  Asparagus  ;  except,  that 
the  Cale  may  be  begun  upon  the  second  year. 
Cover  the  beds  thick  with  litter  in  winter ;  so  that 
the  frost  may  not  enter  very  deep  ;  and,  in  April 
(Long  Island)  you  will  have  plenty. — The  moment 
it  peeps  out,  cut  it,  and  you  have  a  white  stalk 
seven  or  eight  inches  long,  which  is  cooked  just 
as  asparagus  is,  and  is  all  eaten  from  top  to  bot- 
tom. This  plant  is  a  native  of  the  sea  beach  ; 
and  is  as  hardy  as  any  weed  that  grows.  Instead 
of  earth  you  may,  if  convenient,  lay  sand  (and 
especially  sea  sand)  for  it  to  shoot  up  through. 
It  may  be  moved  at  any  age  of  the  plant.  Any 
old  stump  of  it  will  grow.  After  you  leave  off 
cutting  it  in  the  spring,  it  goes  shooting  on,  and, 
during  the  summer  it  bears  seed.  In  the  fall  the 
stalks  are  cut  down,  and  you  proceed  with  the 
beds  as  with  those  of  Asparagus, — Two  beds 
across  any  one  of  the  plats  are  enough  for  any 
family.— This  is,  unquestionably  (after  the  Aspa- 
ragus) the  very  best  garden  vegetable  that  grows. 
Sea-Cale  may  be  had  at  any  time  in  winter,  as 
easily  as  Asparagus  (which  see,)  and  with  less 
care.  The  roots  may  be  dug  up  in  the  fall  and 
thrown  under  any  shed  with  litter,  or  straw,  over 
them,  till  you  want  them.  The  earth  in  the  hot- 
bed must  be  deeher  than  for  Asparagus  :  that  is 
all  the  difference. — The  seed  is  saved  as  easily 
as  that  of  Asparagus. 

205.  CAMOMILE  is  a  medicinal  herb  of 
great  use.  It  is  a  perennial,  and,  though  it  may 
be  propagated  from  seed,  it  is  easiest  propagated 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  137 

by  parting  the  roots.  One  little  bit  of  root  will 
soon  make  a  bed  sufficient  for  a  garden.  The 
flowers  are  used  in  medicine.  They  should  be 
gathered  before  they  begin  to  fade  ;  and  be  dried 
in  a  gentle  sun,  or  in  shade  ;  and  then  put  by,  in 
paper  bags,  in  a  dry  place. 

206.  CAPSICUM  (or  Peppers.)— An  annual 
plant,  sown  early  in  fine  earth,  in  drills  a  foot 
apart,  and  at  six  inches  apart  in  the  drills.  It  is 
handsome  as  a  flower,  and  its  pods  are  used  as  a 
pickle. 

207.  CARAWAY.— The  seeds  are  used  in 
cakes.  The  plant  is  an  annual.  Sow  in  the 
spring,  in  fine  rich  ground,  and  leave  the  plants 
eight  inches  apart  each  way. 

208.  CARROT.— Read  the  Article  Beet  ;  for, 
the  same  season,  same   soil,  same  manure,  same 

preparation  for  sowing,  same  distances,  same  inter 
cultivation,  same  time  of  taking  up,  and  mode 
of  preserving  the  crop,  all  belong  to  the  Carrot, 
— About  the  same  quantity  also  is  enough  for  a 
large  family. — Some  fine  roots  may  be  carefully 
preserved  to  plant  out  for  seed  in  the  spring;  and 
the  seed  should  be  taken  only  from  the  centre 
seed-stalks  of  the  carrots ;  for  that  is  the  finest. 
The  mark  of  a  good  kind  of  seed,  is,  dee/i-red 
colour  of  the  tap.  The  paler  ones  are  degene- 
rate ;  and  the  yellow  ones  are  fast  going  back  to 
the  wild  carrot.  Some  people  consider  that  there 
we  two  sorts  :  I  never  could  discover  any  diffe- 
rence in  the  plants  coming  from  seed  of  what  has 
been  called  the  two  sort.  A  Cow  will  nearly 
double  her  milk,  if  taken  from  common  pasture 
in  October,  and  fed  well  on  carrot-greens,  or  tops 
and  they  may,  at  this  season,  be  cut  off  for  that 
12* 


138  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

purpose.  They  will  shoot  a  little  again  before 
the  time  for  taking  the  carrots  up  ;  but,  that  is 
of  no  consequence.  These  shoots  can  be  cut  off 
before  the  carrots  be  put  away  for  winter.  Car- 
rots will  transplant  like  Beets  ;  but,  they  grow 
still  more  forked  than  the  Beet  in  this  case. — 
They  do,  however,  grow  large  and  heavy  in  this 
way.  I  have  had  some  weigh  more  than  three 
pounds. 

209.  CAULIFLOWER.—It  is  not  without 
some  difficulty,  that  this  plant  is  brought  to  per- 
fection in  any  country,  where  the  frost  is  severe 
in  winter,  and  especially  where  the  summers  are 
as  hot  as  they  are  in  every  part  of  the  United 
States.  Still  it  may  be  brought  to  perfection. — 
It  is  &  cabbage,  and  the  French  call  it  the  flower- 
cabbage.  Its  head  is  a  lump  of  rich  pulp,  instead 
of  being,  as  a  cabbage-head  is,  a  parcel  of  leaves 
folding  in  towards  a  centre,  and  lapping  over  each 
other.  The  Cauliflower  is  an  annual  plant.  It 
blows,  and  ripens  its  seed,  during  the  year  that  it 
is  sown  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  part  which  is  eaten  is 
not,  as  in  the  cabbage,  a  lump  of  leaves,  but  the 
seed  stalks,  fiods,  and  blossoms  in  their  embryo  and 
compact  state,  before  they  expand.— It  is  the  same 
with  Brocoli. — Cauliflowers  may  be  had  to  eat 
in  the  fall,  or  in  the  spring.  The  last  is  the  most 
difficult  to  accomplish  ;  and  I  will,  therefore,  treat 
first  of  the  means  of  accomplishing  that. — To  have 
Cauliflowers  to  eat  in  the  spring,  that  is  to  say,  in 
June ,  you  must  sow  them  in  the  fall  ;  for,  they 
will  have  a  certain  age  before  their  heads  will 
come.  Yet,  they  are  very  tender.  They  will 
not  endure  a  South  of  England  winter  without  a 
covering,  occasionally  at  least,  of  some  sort ;  and 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  139 

the  covering  is,  almost  always  glass,  either  on 
frames  or  in  a  hand-light.  So  that,  to  keep  them 
through  an  American  winter,  there  must  not  only 
be  glass,  but  that  glasv  (except  where  you  have  a 
green-house  to  be  kept  warm  by  fire)  must  have  a 
covering  in  severe  weather. — They  require  age, 
and  yet,  you  must  not  sow  them  too  early  in  the 
fall  ;  for,  if  you  do,  they  will  have  little  heads 
about  the  size  of  a  dollar,  and  go  off  to  seed  at 
once  without  coming  to  a  large  head  at  all.  If  you 
be  too  backward  in  sowing,  the  heads  do  not  begin 
before  the  great  heat  comes  ;  and,  in  that  case, 
they  will  not  head  till  the  full. — All  these  circum- 
stances make  the  raising  of  them  tor  spring  use 
very  difficult. — Sow  (Long  Island)  first  week,  or 
second  week,  in  September,  in  the  same  manner 
that  you  sow  cabbages.  When  the  plants  have 
eight  leaves,  put  them  in  a  warm  place  in  the 
natural  ground,  and  do  not  put  much  dung  in  the 
ground.  The  back  part  of  the  Hot-bed  ground 
would  be  the  place.  Plant  them  six  inches  asun- 
der upon  a  piece  of  ground  that  your  frame  will 
cover  ;  but  do  not  put  on  the  frame,  till  sharjiish 
frosts  begin  to  come.  Then  put  it  on,  and, 
whenever  you  expect  a  frost,  put  over  the  lights 
at  night.  If  there  be  much  rain,  keep  the  lights 
on,  but  give  plenty  of  air.  Take  the  lights  off 
whenever  you  can.  When  the  hard  frost  comes, 
put  long  dung  from  the  stable  very  thick  all  round 
the  frame  up  to  the  very  top  of  it,  and  extend- 
ing a  yard  wide  ;  and,  in  severe  weather,  cover 
the  glass  with  a  mat,  or  old  carpet  first ;  then  put 
straw  upon  the  mat  ;  and  then  cover  the  straw 
with  another  mat.  But,  mind,  they  must  bekep 
in  the  dark  as  little  as  possible.    When  the  sun  is 


140  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

out,  they  must  have  it ;  and,  in  mild  days,  they 
must  have  a  great  deal  of  air.  When  there  is  an 
occasional  thawing  dayy  take  the  lights  oft,  and 
hoe  and  stir  the  ground  ;  for,  they  want  strength 
as  well  as  protection  ;  and  they  must  have  all  the 
air  you  can,  with  safety  to  their  lives,  give  them. 
— Thus  you  go  on  till  within  about  three  weeks  of 
the  general  Indian- Corn  planting  season.  By  this 
time  you  may  leave  the  lights  off  day  and  night. 
Ten  days  before  Corn-planting  get  your  ground 
ready,  deeply  dug  and  full  of  rich  manure.  Make 
holes  with  a  spade  ;  remove  each  plant  with  a  ball 
of  earth  about  the  roots  ;  fix  the  plants  well  in  the 
holes  at  two  feet  asunder ;  leave  a  little  dish  round 
each  ;  water  them  with  water  that  runs  out  of  a 
yard  where  cattle  are  kept.  They  love  moisture, 
especially  under  a  hot  sun.  Give  them  this  sort 
of  water,  or  muddy,  stagnant  water,  every  three 
days  in  hot  weather  ;  hoe  and  dig  between  them 
also  ;  and  you  will  have  Cauliflowers  in  June. — If 
you  have  a  Green-house,  the  trouble  is  little.  Sow 
as  before.  Put  about  four  plants  in  a  flower-pot 
a  foot  diameter  at  top,  instead  of  putting  Under  a 
frame.  They  will  live  in  the  Green  house  like 
other  plants  ;  and  will  be  ready  to  put  out  as 
above-mentioned.  Fifty  plants  are  enough.  They 
are  very  fine  vegetables  ;  but  they  come  not  ear- 
lier than  green  peas. — To  have  Cauliflowers  to 
eat  in  the  fall  is  a  much  easier  matter,  and  then 
they  are,  in  my  opinion  more  valuable  than  in  tne 
spring.  Sow  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
manner  as  you  sow  early  cabbages.  Treat  the 
plants  in  the  same  way;  put  them  at  two  feet  and 
a  half  distance  ;  you  need  not  now  water  them  ; 
they   will  begin  to  come  early  in  October     and, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  141 

if  any  of  them  have  not  perfected  their  heads  when 
the  sharp,  frosts  come,  take  them  up  by  the  root, 
hang  them  up  by  the  heels  in  a  warm  part  of  a 
barn,  or  in  a  cellar  ;  they  will  get  tolerably  good 
heads;  and  you  will  have  some  of  those  heads  to 
eat  at  Christmas. — The  seed,  on  account  of  the 
heat,  is  extremely  difficult  to  save  in  America  ; 
but,  if  a  fall  Cauliflower  were  kept  in  a  Green- 
house during  winter,  and  put  out  three  weeks 
before  corn-planting  time,  I  am  persuaded,  it 
would  bring  good  seed  in  June. — The  quantity 
of  this  plant  must  depend  upon  the  taste  for  it  ; 
but,  it  is  so  much  better  than  the  very  best  of 
cabbages,  that  it  is  worth  some  trouble  to  get  it. 
210.  CELERY.— The  qualities  of  this  plant 
are  universally  known.  There  are  three  or  four 
sorts.  The  white,  the  red,  the  hollow,  and  the 
solid.  The  hollow  white  is  the  best;  but  the  pro- 
pagation and  cultivation  of  all  are  the  same.  The 
whole  of  that  part  of  the  year,  during  which  the 
frost  is  out  of  the  ground,  is  not  a  bit  too  long  for 
the  getting  of  fine  Celery.  The  seed,  sown  in 
the  cold  ground,  in  April,  will  lie  six  weeks  be- 
fore it  come  up.  A  wheel-barrow  full  of  hot 
dung,  put  in  a  hole  in  the  ground  against  a  wall, 
or  any  fence,  facing  the  south,  and  covered  with 
rich  and  fine  mould,  will  bring  the  seed  up  in  two 
weeks.  If  you  have  a  hot -bed  frame,  or  a  hand- 
light,  the  thing  is  easy.  A  large  flower-pot  will 
bring  up  out  of  ground,  plants  enough  for  any 
family.  As  soon  as  the  plants  are  three  inches 
high,  and  it  scarcely  matters  how  thick  they 
stand,  make  a  nice  little  bed  in  open  free  air  ; 
make  the  ground  rich  and  the  earth  very  fine. — 
Here  prick  out  the  plants  at  4  inches  apart ;  and, 


142  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

of  course,  9  in  a  square  foot.  They  are  so  very 
small,  that  this  must  be  carefully  done  ;  and  they 
should  be  gently  watered  once,  and  shaded  2  days. 
A  bed  10  feet  long,  and  4  wide  will  contain  360 
plants  ;  and,  if  they  be  well  cultivated^  they  are 
more  than  any  common-sized  family  can  want 
from  November  till  May. — In  this  bed  the  plants 
stand  till  the  middle  of  July,  or  thereabouts,  when 
they  are  to  go  out  into  trenches.  Make  the 
trenches  a  foot  deep  and  a  foot  wide,  and  put 
them  not  less  than  Jive  feet  asunder.  The 
ground  that  you  make  the  trenches  in  should  not 
be  fresh  dug  ;  but  be  in  a  solid  statet  which  very 
conveniently  maybe  ;  for  Celery  comes  on  just  as 
the  Peas  and  early  Cabbages  and  Cauliflowers 
have  gone  off.  Lay  the  earth  that  you  take  out 
in  the  middle  of  the  space  between  the  trenches, 
so  that  it  may  not  be  washed  into  them  by  the 
heavy  rains  ;  for  it  will,  in  such  case,  cover  the 
hearts  of  the  plants,  and  will  go  very  nearly  to 
destroy  them. — When  you  have  made  your 
trench,  put  along  it  some  good  rich  compost  Ma- 
nure, partly  consisting  of  wood  ashes.  Not  dung  ; 
or,  at  least,  not  dung  fresh  from  the  yard  ;  for, 
if  you  use  that,  the  celery  will  be  rank  and  fiifiy9 
and  will  not  keep  nearly  so  long  or  so  well. — Dig 
this  manure  in,  and  break  all  the  earth  very  fine 
as  you  go. — Then  take  up  your  plants,  and  trim 
off  the  long  roots.  You  will  find,  that  every 
plant  has  offsets  to  it,  coming  up  by  the  side  of 
the  main  stem.  Pull  all  these  off,  and  leave  only 
the  single  stem.  Cut  the  leaves  off  so  as  to 
leave  the  whole  plant  about  six  inches  long. — 
Plant  them,  six  inches  apart,  and  fix  them,  in 
the  manner  so  minutely  dwelt  on  under  the  arti- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  H3' 

cle,  Cabbage,  keeping,  as  you  are  at  work,  your 
feet  close  to  the  outside  edges  of  the  trench.  Do 
not  water  the  plants  ;  and,  if  you  plant  in  fresh* 
dug  ground,  and  fix  your  plants  well,  none  of  the 
troublesome  and  cumbrous  business  of  shading  is 
at  all  necessary ;  for  the  plant  is  naturally  hardy, 
and,  if  it  has  heat  to  wither  it  above,  it  has  also 
that  heat  beneath  to  cause  its  roots  to  strike  out 
almost  instantly.  When  the  plants  begin  to  grow, 
which  they  quickly  will  do,  hoe  on  each  side  and 
between  them  with  a  small  hoe.  As  they  grow 
up,  earth  their  stems  ;  that  is,  put  the  earth  up 
to  them,  but  not  too  much  at  a  time  ;  and  let  the 
earth  that  you  put  up  be  finely  brokeny  and  not  at 
all  cloddy.  While  you  do  this,  keep  the  stalks 
©f  the  outside  leaves  close  up  to  prevent  the 
earth  from  getting  between  the  stems  of  the  out- 
side leaves  and  the  inner  ones  ;  for,  if  it  get 
there  it  checks  the  plant  and  makes  the  celery 
bad. — When  you  begin  the  earthing  take  first 
the  edges  of  the  trenches  ;  and  do  not  go  into  the 
middle  of  the  intervals  for  the  earth  that  you  took 
out  of  the  trenches.  Keep  working  backwards, 
time  after  time,  that  is  earthing  after  earthing, 
till  you  come  to  the  earth  that  you  dug  out  of  the 
trenches  ;  and,  by  this  time  the  earth  against  the 
plants  will  be  above  the  level  of  the  land.  Then 
you  take  the  earth  out  of  the  middle,  till,  at  last 
the  earth  against  the  plants  forms  a  ridge  and  the 
middle  of  each  interval  a  sort  of  gutter.  Earth 
up  very  often,  and  not  put  much  at  a  time.  Eve- 
ry week  a  little  earth  to  be  p'ut  up. — Thus,  in  Oc- 
tober, you  will  have  four  ridges  of  Celery  across 
one  of  the  Plats,  each  containing  168  plants.  I 
sh all  suppose  one  of  these  ridges  to  be  wanted  for 


144  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

use  before  the  frost  sets  in  for  good.  Leave  anoth- 
er ridge  to  be  lock-up.  by  the  frost,  a  much  safer 
guardian  than  your  cellar  or  barn-door.  But,  you 
must  cover  this  ridge  over  in  such  a  way  that  the 
wet  will  not  get  down  into  the  hearts  of  the  celery. 
Two  boards,  a  foot  wide  each,  their  edges  on  one 
sice  laid  upon  the  earth  of  the  ridge,  formed  into 
a  roof  over  the  point  of  the  ridge,  the  upper 
edge  of  one  board  going  an  inch  over  the  upper 
edge  of  the  other,  and  the  boards  fastened  well 
with  pegs,  will  do  the  business  completely  ;  for, 
it  is  not  the  frost,  but  the  occasional  thaws  that 
you  have  to  fear,  and  the  wet  and  rot  that  they 
produce. — For  the  celery  that  is  to  serve  from  the 
setting  in  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  frost,  you 
must  have  a  bed  of  sand,  or  light  earth,  in  a 
warm  part  of  a  barn,  or  in  a  cellar ;  and  there 
you  must  lay  it  in,  row  after  row,  not  covering  the 
points  of  the  leaves. — To  have  seed>  take  one 
plant,  in  spring,  out  of  the  ridge  left  in  the  gar- 
den. Plant  it  in  an  open  place,  and  you  will  have 
seed  enough  to  serve  a  whole  township.  For  soufi 
the  seed  bruised  is  as  good  as  the  plant  itself. — 
For  the  number  of  years  that  the  seed  will  keep 
good,  see  Paragraph  150. 

211.  CHERVIL  is  an  annual  plant.  Its  leaves 
a  good  deal  like  those  of  double  parsley.  They 
are  used  in  salads.  A  small  patch,  sown  in  rows, 
like  parsley,  is  enough. 

212.  CIVES  a  little  sort  of  onion,  which  is 
perennial.  The  greens  only  are  used.  A  small 
quantity  is  sufficient' for  a  garden.  This  plant 
may  be  propagated  from  seed,  or  from  offsets. 

213.  CORIANDER  is  an  annual  plant  that 
some  persons  use  in  soups  and  salads.     It  is  sown 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  144 

in  spring.  The  seed  is  also  used  as  a  medicine. 
A  small  patch,  probably  two  square  yards,  will 
be  enough. 

214.  CORN  (Indian).  To  have  some  early,  the 
early  sorts  must  be  got.  A  dozen  or  two  of  plants 
may  be  easily  raised  in  pots,  as  directed  for  Cu- 
cumbers.   See  Cucumbers. 

215.  CORN-SALAD.— This  is  a  little  insig- 
nificant annual  plant  that  some  persons  use  in 
salads,  though  it  can  hardly  be  of  any  real  use, 
where  lettuce  seed  is  to  be  had.  It  is  a  mere 
weed. 

216.  CRESS  (or  Pepper-Grass)  is  very  good 
in  salads  along  with  lettuces,  white  mustard,  or 
rape.  It  should  be  sown  in  little  drills,  very  thick 
(as  should  the  white  mustard  and  the  rape)  and 
cut  before  it  comes  into  rough  leaf.  A  small  quan- 
tity, in  the  salad-season,  should  be  sown  every  six 
days.  This  salad,  as  well  as  the  mustard  and  the 
rape,  may  be  very  conveniently  raised  in  a  cor- 
ner of  a  hot-bed,  made  for  radishes  or  cabbage- 
plants. 

217.  CUCUMBER.— To  give  minute  rule 
for  the  propagation  and  cultivation  of  this  plant, 
in  a  country  like  this,  would  be  waste  of  time. — 
However,  if  you  wish  to  have  them  a  month  ,  -ar- 
tier than  the  natural  ground  will  br  ng  them,  do 
this.  Make  a  hole  and  put  into  it  a  little  hot 
dung  ;  let  the  hole  be  under  a  warm  fence.  Put 
6  inches  deep  of  fine  rich  earth  on  the  dung. — 
Sow  a  parcel  of  seeds  in  this  earth  ;  and  cover  at 
night  with  a  bit  of  carpet,  or  sail  cloth,  having 
first  fixed  some  hoops  over  this  little  bed. — Be- 
fore the  plants  show  the  rough  leaf,  plant  two 
into   a  little  flower  pot,  and  fill  as  manv  pot^ 


146  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

in  this  way  as  you  please. — Have  a  larger  bed 
ready  to  put  the  pots  into,  and  covered  with  earth 
so  that  the  pots  may  be  plunged  in  the  earth  up 
to  their  tops.  Cover  this  bed  like  the  last. — 
When  the  plants  have  got  two  rough  leaves  out, 
they  will  begin  to  make  a  shoot  in  the  middle. — 
Pinch  that  short  off. — Let  them  stand  in  this  bed, 
till  your  cucumbers  sown  in  the  natural  ground 
come  up. ;  then  make  some  little  holes  in  good 
rich  land,  and  taking  a  pot  at  a  time,  turn  out 
the  ball  and  fix  it  in  the  hole.  These  plants  will 
bear  a  month  sooner  than  those  sown  in  the  natu- 
ral ground  ;  and  a  square  yard  will  contain  36 
pots,  and  will  of  course,  furnish  plants  for  36 
hills  of  cucumbers,  which,  if  well  managed,  will 
keep  on  bearing  till  September. — Those  who 
have  hot-bed  frames,  or  hand-lights,  will  do  this 
matter  very  easily. — The  cucumber  plant  is  very 
tender  and  juicy  ;  and,  therefore,  when  the  seed- 
lings are  put  into  the  pots,  they  should  be  water- 
ed, and  shaded  for  a  day  or  two  ;  when  the  balls 
are  turned  into  the  ground,  they  should  be  water- 
ed, and  shaded  with  a  bough  for  one  day.  That 
will  be  enough. — I  have  one  observation  to  make 
upon  the  cultivation  of  cucumbers,  melons  of 
all  sorts,  and  of  all  the  pumpkin  and  squash 
tribe  ;  and  that  is,  that  it  is  a  great  error  to  sow 
them  too  thick,  One  plant  in  a  hill  is  enough ;  and 
I  would  put  two  into  a  pot,  merely  as  a  bar  against 
accidents.  One  will  bring  more  weight  of  fruit 
than  two  (if  standing  near  each  other,)  two  more 
than  three,  and  so  on,  till  you  come  to  fifty  in  a 
square  foot  ;  and  then  you  will  have  no  fruit  at 
all !  Let  any  one  make  the  experiment,  and  he 
will  find  this  observation  mathematicallv  time, — 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  14f 

When  cucumbers  are  left  eight  or  ten  plants  in  a 
hill,  they  never  shoot  strongly.  Their  vines  are 
poor  and  weak.  The  leaves  become  yellow :  and 
if  they  bear,  at  all,  it  is  poor  tasteless  fruit  that 
they  produce.  Their  bearing  is  over  in  a  few 
weeks.  Whereas,  a  single  plant,  in  the  same 
space  will  send  its  fine  green  vines  all  around  it  to 
a  great  distance,  and,  if  no  fruit  be  left  to  rifien, 
will  keep  bearing  till  the  white  frosts  come  in  the 
fall. — The  roots  of  a  cucumber  will  go  ten  feet, 
in  fine  earth,  in  every  direction.  Judge,  then, 
how  ten  plants,  standing  close  to  one  another, 
must  produce  mutual  starvation !— If  you  save  a 
cucumber  for  seed,  let  it  be  the  first  fine  fruit 
that  appears  on  the  plant.  The  plant  will  cease 
to  bear  much  after  this  fruit  becomes  yellowish. 
I  have  said  enough,  under  the  head  of  Saving 
Seeds  (Paragraphs,  139  to  146)  to  make  you  take 
care,  that  nothing  of  the  melon,  pumpkin  or 
squash  kind  grow  near  a  seed-bearing  cucumber 
plant  ;  and  that  all  cucumbers  of  a  different  sort 
from  that  bearing  the  seed  be  kept  at  a  great  dis- 
tance.— There  are  many  sorts  of  cucumbers ;  the 
Long  Prickly,  the  Short  Prickly,  the  Cluster, 
and  many  others  ;  but,  the  propagation  and  cul- 
tivation of  all  the  sorts  are  the  same. 

218.  DANDELION.— This  is  a  well-known 
and  most  wicked  garden  weed,  in  this  country  as 
well  as  in  England  ;  and  I  am  half  afraid  to  speak 
of  using  it  as  food,  lest  I  should  encourage  lazi- 
ness. But,  there  may  be  people  without  gardens, 
and  without  the  means  of  purchasing  greens  in 
the  spring  ;  and  to  them  what  I  am  about  to  say- 
may  be  of  use.  The  Dandelion  is  as  early  as  the 
earliest  of  grass  ;  and,  it  is   one  of  the  very  best 


148  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

of  greens,  when  it  is  young.  It  is  a  sort  of  wild 
Endive.  The  French,  who  call  it  (from  the 
shape  of  its  leave)  Dent  de  lion,  er  Lion's  tooth, 
use  it,  bleached  as  salad,  and,  if  fine,  large  and 
well  bleached,  it  is  better  than  Endive,  much 
more  tender,  and  of  a  better  flavour.  It  is  very- 
common  in  rich  pasture  land  in  England;  and  cat- 
tle and  sheep,  particularly  the  former,  prefer  it, 
as  far  as  my  observation  has  gone,  to  every  other 
plant  in  che  pastures.  It  is  full  of  mil k  coloured 
juice,  and  fuller  of  it  than  either  the  Endive  or 
the  Lettuce.  In  the  spring  (June)  1817,  when  I 
caivie  to  Long  Island,  and  when  nothing  in  the 
shape  of  greens  was  to  be  had  for  love  or  money, 
Dandelions  were  our  resource ;  and  I  have  always 
since  that  time,  looked  at  this  weed  with  a  more 
friendly  eye. 

219.  DOCK. — I  have  frequently  mentioned 
the  leaves  of  this  weed  as  being  sold  in  the  mar- 
ket at  New  V'ork.  This  weed  and  the  Dandelion 
are  the  gardener's  two  vegetable  devils.  Nothing 
but  absolute  burning,  or  a  sun  that  will  reduce 
them  to  fiowder,  will  kill  their  roots,  any  little 
bit  of  which  will  grow,  and  that,  too,  whether 
lying  on,  or  in,  the  ground.  Both  bear  seed  in 
prodigious  quantities. — The  Dock  (which  is  the 
wild  Rhubarb )  puts  forth  its  leaves  very  quickly 
after  the  Dandelion  ;  and  hence  it  is  that  it  is 
resorted  to  as  greens  in  the  spring.  This  is 
however,  a  coarse  green  compared  with  the  Dan- 
delion. However,  it  is  better  than  no  greens  at 
all  after  five  months  of  winter,  which  has  left 
nothing  green  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. — If  a 
rod  or  two  of  ground,  on  the  south  side  of  a  wood, 
were  trenched  and  made  rich,  and  planted  witty 


AMERICAN  GARDENER  149 

Docks,  or  Dandelions,  the  owner,  even  though 
he  had  no  garden,  would  not  be  in  want  of  early- 
greens  ;  and,  it  would  be  better  to  do  this  than 
to  have  to  go  upon  the  hunt  after  these  vegeta- 
bles, which,  though  weeds,  are  not,  in  every- 
place, to  be  found  in  any  considerable  quantity; 
or,  at  least,  not  without  spending  a  good  deal  of 
time  in  the  pursuit. — The  Dock-leaf  is  very- 
wholesome,  as  is  also  that  of  the  Dandelion. — 
They  do  not  produce  grifiings  as  the  greater  part 
of  the  cabbage  kinds  are  apt  to  do. — See  Rhu- 
barb. 

220.  ENDIVE.— This  is  a  salad-plant,  though 
like  the  Dandelion,  it  may  be  eaten  as  greens. — 
There  are  two  sorts,  the  curled  and  the  filain, 
just  as  there  are  of  the  Dandelion,  which,  as 
I  observed  before,  is  a  sort  of  Endive. — The  cur- 
led is  firettiest,  and  is,  therefore,  generally  pre- 
ferred ;  but,  the  plain  is  the  best. — Sow  Endive 
in  drills  a  foot  apart  ;  when  the  plants  come  up, 
thin  them  to  a  foot  apart  in  the  row,  if  they  be 
not  to  be  removed  by  transplantation  ;  keep  the 
ground  clean,  and  hoe  deep  and  frequently  be- 
tween the  plants.  When  they  get  to  a  good  size, 
they  are  to  be  bleached  before  they  can  be  used  as 
salad  :  for,  while  green,  they  are  very  bitter  and 
not  very  crisp.  In  order  to  bleach  them,  you 
must  take  them  quite  dry  ;  gather  all  the  leaves 
carefully  up  with  your  hands  ;  draw  them  into  a 
conical  form,  and  tie  them  round  wHh  matting  or 
soft  string,  or  little  splinters  of  white  oak. — 
When  they  have  remained  in  this  state  for  about 
a  fortnight,  they  will  be  bleached  and  fit  for  use. 
The  time  of  sowing  may  be  as  early  as  the  weath- 
er will  permit  in  the  spring,  and  there  may  be 
13* 


1-50  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

another  sowing  for  summer  ;  but,  it  is  for  Winter 
and  spring  use  that  Endive  is  most  wanted  ;  so 
that,  the  late  sowings  are  of  the  most  importance. 
Sow  about  the  end  of  July,  in  fine  rich  ground. 
If  you  do  not  transplant,  leave  the  plants  at  the 
distances  before-mentioned ;  if  you  do,  trans- 
plant at  the  same  distances  (a  foot  every  way ;) 
do  it  when  the  plants  have  ten  leaves,  and  tip  off 
both  leaves  and  roots  when  you  transplant.  Fix 
the  roots  well  as  directed  in  the  case  of  cabbage  ; 
and,  as  the  p;ant  is  very  juicy,  and  the  weather 
hot,  plant  in  the  evening,  or  early  in  the  morning, 
water  a  little,  and  lay  some  bows  over  to  shade 
for  two  days,  but  take  the  bows  off  at  night. — • 
The  best  place  for  Endive  would  be  the  shady 
border.  The  plants  will  come  in  for  use  in  Oc- 
tober, November,  and  December.  Some  sown  a 
little  later  must  be  preserved  for  winter  use.  Be- 
fore the  frost  sets  in,  they  must  be  tied  up  in  a 
conical  form,  as  before  directed,  and  all  dead,  or 
yellow,  leaves  must  be  taken  off.  Then  dig  them 
up,  with  a  ball  of  earth  to  each,  and  put  them 
into  light  earth  in  a  cellar,  or  some  warm  build- 
ing. Put  only  the  roots  into  the  earth  ;  do  not 
suffer  the  plants  to  touch  each  other  J  and  pour  a 
little  water  round  the  roots  after  you  have  put 
them  in  the  earth.  If  they  be  perfectly  dry 
when  tied  up,  they  will  keep  well  till  spring. — 
To  have  them  as  early  as  possible  in  the  spring, 
sow  in  the  third  week  of  August,  and  do  not  trans- 
plant. When  the  hard  frost  is  come,  cover  the 
whole  of  the  ground  over  with  straw  six  inches 
deep,  and  throw  (if  at  hand)  some  leaves  of  trees 
over  the  straw,  and  some  sticks  to  keep  the  leaves 
from  blowing  away.    But,  the  best  covering  of 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  151 

all,  in  this  case  is,  boughs  of  cedar ',  or  of  fir,  or 
laurel  ;  though  these  boughs  must  be,  for  this 
purpose,  cut  up  into  small  parts,  so  that  they 
wili  He  close  and  compact  ami  keep  out  the  light. 
Some  ever-green  boughs,  and  some  1  vves  of 
trees  thrown  over  them,  form,  perhaps,  the  best 
covering  in  the  wo  Id  for  plants  of  this  descrip- 
tion. But,  observe  s  yu  must  e  the  frost  come* 
The  ground,  must  be  right  hard  when  you  put  the 
covering  OS  ;  or  else,  the  plants  will  rot.  They 
must  see  the  sun  no  more  till  spring.  When  the 
frost  breaks  ufiy  take  off  the  covering :  hoe  the 
ground  as  soo.i  as  dry,  and  proceed  to  perfect  the 
plants  in  the  manner  before  described  — One  of 
these  plants  will  produce  seed  enough  to  last  you 
for  five  years. — There  need  not  be  many  of  these 
plants.  Lettuces  are  their  rivals,  and  are  a  great 
deal  bitter. — I  have  mentioned  matting  in  this 
article,  as  a  thing  to  tie  with.  This  matting  is 
nothing  more  than  the  threads  of  those  large 
things,  in  which  foreign  goods  sometimes  come 
packed  up.  These  things  are  in  Rn  lair!  called 
Mats,  and  the  th  eads  of  which  they  a  -e  compos- 
ed, are  by  gardeners  called  matting..  Trie  gar- 
deners use  th.  for  ties  to  Espalier  trees  ;  they 
tie  on  their  grafts  with  it;  they  tie  up  their 
flowers  with  it;  and,  in  short,  it  is  the  string  of 
the  gardeners.  The  Mats,  thousands  >f  bales  of 
which  are  imported  into  England  from  Russia;* 
are  a  d  to  cover  the  hot-beds  with,  and  f  v  ri- 
ous  other  purposes. — Bnt  matting  is  to  b  ha  1, 
ana  with  very  little  trouble,  without  sending  to 
Russia  for  it  Amy  one  who  has  a  i/iare  tre  nay 
have  plenty  of  matti,;g.  When  t  ca.ie  L  >ng 
Island,  I  cut  down  a  chesnut,  of  about  a  foot  dia- 


152  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

meter,  and  that  furnished  me  with  a  store  of  mat- 
ting ties.  The  tree  was  cut  in  June;  the  outer 
bark  taken  off;  and  then  the  inne r-bark  came  off 
in  long  Jlakes,  some  broad  and  some  narrow,  the 
whole  length  of  the  clear  trunk,  which  was  about 
15  feet.  I  just  hung  this  up  to  dry  ;  and  that  was 
matting,  to  be  cut  into  any  length,  and  ready  to 
use  for  any  tie,  where  much  s  vength  was  not  re- 
quired. The  only  precautions  are :  keep  the  mat- 
ting in  the  dry,  and  when  you  use  it  difi  it  in  wa- 
ter first  for  a  few  minutes,  and  take  it  out  of  the 
water  as  you  -se  it.  If  you  have  put  more  into 
the  water  than  you  want  for  that  time,  take  t  out 
and  hang  it  up  in  the  dry  again ;  and  it  will  re- 
ceive no  injury. 

221  FENNEL — Fennel  is  a  fierennial  plant ; 
propagated  from  seed,  or  from  offsets  ;  and  sown, 
or  planted,  either  in  spring  or  fall.  The  plants 
should  stand  about  a  foot  asunder.  It  is  a  tall 
plait  Willi  hairy  leaves.  Its  leaves  are  used  in 
salads,  are  chopped  up  fine  to  put  in  melted  but- 
ter aten  with  fish,  they  are  boiled  with  fish  to 
give  the  fish  a  flavour,  and,  they  are  tied  round 
mackarel,  particularly  when  these  are  broiled, 
the  French,  who  excel  in  the  cooking  of  fish,  al- 
ways do  this.  The  leaves,  thus  broiled,  become 
crisp  ;  and,  they  are  then  of  a  very  fine  flavour. 
In  winter,  the  seed,  bruised,  give  fish  the  same 
flavour  as  the  leaves  do  in  summer  ;  and,  to  my 
taste,  butter,  seasoned  with  Fennel,  is  better  than 
any  of  the  fish  sauces,  bought  at  the  shops.—  It  is 
a  very  hardy  plant,  Two  yards  square  will  con- 
tain enough  for  any  family ;  and,  once  in  the 
ground,  it  will  stand  there  for  an  age,  or  ten  ages, 
as  far  as  I  know. . 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  153 

222.  GARLIC K. — Almost  all  nations  excep 
the  English,  the  Americans,  and  the  French,  make 
great  and  constant  use  of  Garlick ;  and,  even  the 
French  use  it,  frequently,  to  an  extent  that  would 
drive  us  from  the  table. — It  is  propagated  from 
seed,  or  from  offsets  :  and  is  sown,  or  planted,  ei- 
ther in  spring  or  fall.  For  winter  use  the  roots 
are  taken  up  and  kept  in  the  dry,  as  onions  are. 

223.  GOURD.— I  do  not  know  any  use  that  it 
is  of.     See  Pumpkin. 

224.  HOP. — To  range   the    Hop  amongst  the 
Vegetables   may  appear  odd  ;  but,  it  is  a  garden 

plant  in  America,  and  does  give  you,  if  you  /ike 
to  have  it,  a  very  good  dish  for  the  table.  It  is 
wanted  to  produce  its  fruit  for  the  making  of  yeasty 
or  beer,  or  both ;  and,  to  get  good  hops,  there 
should  be  some  cultivation.  Any  bit  of  a  root 
will  grow  and  become  a  plant.  The-young  plants 
should  be  planted  in  the  fall,  three  or  four  togeth- 
er in  a  clump,  or  hill^and  the  hills  should  be 
from  seven  to  ten  feet  apart.  The  first  year  of 
planting,  put  fotff  rods,  or  little  poles,  to  each 
hill,  and  let  two  vines  go  up  each  pole,  treading 
the  rest  of  the  vines  down  to  creep  about  the 
ground.  In  a  month  after  the  vines  begin  to 
mount  the  poles,  cut  off  all  the  creeping  vines ; 
and  draw  up  a  hill  of  earth  against  the  poles  all 
round,  and  cover  all  the  crowns  of  the  plants.  In 
short,  make  a  hill  a  foot  high  with  a  flattish 
top,  and  then  fork  up  the  ground  between  the 
!  hills  and  break  it  line.  When  weeds  begin  to  ap- 
pear, hoe  the  ground  clean ;  and  at  the  end  of 
another  month  draw  some  more  earth  up,  and 
make  the  hill  bigger  and  higher. — When  the  fall 
comes,  cut  off  the  vines  that  have  gone  up  the 


154  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

pole,  a  foot  from  the  ground ;  take  down  the  poles  ; 
dig  down  the  hills,  and  with  a  corn-hoe,  open 
the  ground  all  round  the  crowns  of  the  plants  ; 
and  before  winter  sets  in,  cut  all  close  down  to 
the  very  crowns,  and  then  cover  the  crowns  over 
with  earth  three  or  four  inches  thick.  Through 
this  earth  the  hop-shoots  will  start  in  the  spring. 
You  will  want  but  eight  of  them  to  go  up  your  four 
poles ;  and  the  rest,  when  three  inches  long,  you 
may  cut,  and  eat  as  asfiaragus  ;  cook  them  ia 
the  same  manner,  and  you  will  find  them  a  very 
delightful  vegetable. — This  year  you  put  poles  20 
feet  long  to  your  hops.  Proceed  the  same  as  be- 
fore, only  make  the  hills  larger ;  and  this  year 
you  will  have  plenty  of  hops  to  gather  for  use. — 
The  next,  and  every  succeeding  year,  you  may 
put  poles  40  or  50  feet  long  ;  but  they  must  not  be 
too  large  at  bottom.  Be  sure  to  open  the  ground 
every  fall,  and  to  cut  all  off  close  down  to  the 
crown  of  the  filants,  which,  when  pared  off  with  a 
sharp  knife,  will  look  like  a  piece  of  cork — In 
England,  where  there  are  more  hops  used  than  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  requires  four  or  Jive 
years  to  bring  a  hop  hill  to  perfection.  Even  then, 
a  pole  from  15  to  20  feet  long  is  generally  long 
enough  ;  and  the  crop  of  thirty  hills  is,  upon  an 
average,  not  more  than  equal  to  that  of  one  hill  in 
the  hop-plantations  on  the  Susquehannah  ;  not- 
withstanding that,  on  the  Susquehannah,  they 
merely  plough  the  ground  in  spring;  never  open  I 
the  crowns  and  pare  them  down,  leave  the  loose 
creeping  vines  together  with  the  weeds  and  grass 
to  be  eaten,  in  summer,  by  sheefiy  which  also 
eat  the  leaves  of  the  mounting  vines  as  ,far  as 
they,  by  putting  their  fore  feet  against  the  poles, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  155 

can  reach  up  ;  and  yet,  in  England,  the  Hop- 
lands  are  called  hop-gardens,  and  are  cultivated 
and  kept  in  a  garden  state. — But,  hops  are  to  be 
preserved.  They  are  fit  to  gather,  when  you  see, 
upon  opening  the  leaves  of  the  hop,  a  good  deal  of 
yellow  dust,  and  when  the  seeds,  which  you  will 
find  at  the  sockets  of  the  leaves  of  the  hop,  begin 
to  be  plump. — Gather  them  nicely,  and  let  no 
leaves  or  stalks  be  amongst  them  ;  and  lay  them 
out  on  a  cloth  to  dry  in  the  sun,  taking  care  that 
no  rain  fall  upon  them,  and  that  they  be  not  out 
in  the  dew. — When  fierfectly  dry,  put  them,  very 
hardly  and  closely  pressed,  into  a  new  bag,  made 
of  thick  Russia  linen,  such  as  they  make  strong 
trowsers  of.  And,  in  this  state,  they  will,  if  ne- 
cessary, keep  good  and  fit  for  use  (if  kept  in  a  dry 
place)  for  tvjenty  years,  or,  perhaps,  three  times 
twenty.  I  have  used  hops,  for  brewing,  at  ten 
years  old,  and  found  them  just  as  efficient  as  new 
hops  of  the  same  original  quality.  However, 
fieofile  say  that  fresh  hops  have  a  more  lively 
flavour  ;  and,  as  any  stick  will,  in  America, 
carry  enough  to  supply  a  family  with  hops  for  the 
making  of  yeast-cakes,  it  must  be  shocking  lazi- 
ness not  to  put  a  few  bv  every  year. 

225.  HORSE  RADISH.—Like  every  other 
plant,  this  bears  seed  ;  but  it  is  best  propagated 
by  cntting  bits  of  roots  into  lengths  of  two  inches 
and  putting  them,  spring  or  fall,  into  the  ground 
about  a  foot  deep,  with  a  setting  stick.  They 
will  find  their  way  up  the  first  year  ;  and  the  se- 
cond they  will  be  fine  large  roots,  if  the  ground 
be  trenched  deeply  and  made  pretty  good.  Half 
a  square  perch  of  ground,  planted  at  a  foot  apart 
every   way,  will,  if  kept  clear  of   weeds,  pro- 


156  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

duce  enough  for  a  family  that  eats  roast-beef  every 
day  of  their  lives.  You  must  take  care  that  the 
Horse-radish  roots  do  not  spread,  and  that  bits  of 
them  be  not  flung  about  the  ground  ;  for,  when 
once  in,  no  tillage  will  get  them  out.  They  must 
be,  like  the  Dock  and  Dandelion  roots,  absolute- 
ly burnt  by  fire,  or  by  a  sun  that  will  reduce 
them  to  a  state  of  a  dry  stick  ;  or  must  be  taken 
up  and  carried  away  ftom  the  spot.  Though  a 
very  valuable  and  wholesome  article  of  diet,  it 
is  a  most  flemiti  us  weed. 

226.  HYSSOP  is  a  sort  of  shrub,  the  flower- 
spikes  of  which  are  used,  fresh  or  dried,  for 
medicinal  purposes.  It  is  propagated  from  seed, 
or  frotfi  offsets.  A  very  little  of  it  is  enough  for 
any  garden. 

227.  JERUSALEM  ARTICHOKE.— This 
plant  bears  at  the  root,  like  a  potatoe,  which  to 
the  great  degradation  of  many  of  the  human 
race,  is  every  where  well  known.  But,  this  Ar- 
tichoke, which  is  also  dug  up  and  cooked  like  a  po- 
titoe,  has,  at  any  rate,  the  merit  of  giving  no 
trouble  either  in  the  propagation  or  the  cultiva- 
tion. A  handful  of  the  bits  of  its  fruit,  or  even 
of  i*s  roots,  flung  about  a  piece  of  ground  of  any 
sort,  will  keep  bearing  forever,  in  spite  of  grass 
and  of  weeds;  the  difficulty  being,  not  to  get  it 
to  grow,  but  to  get  the  ground  free  from  it,  when 
once  it  has  taken  to  growing.  It  is  a  very  poor, 
insipid  vegetable  ;  but,  if  you  wish  to  have  it  now 
and  then,  the  best  way  is  to  keep  it  out  of  the  gar- 
den ;  and  to  dig  up  the  corner  of  some  field,  and 
throw  some  seed  or  some  roots  into  it. 

228.  LAVENDER.  A  beautiful  little  well- 
known  shrub  of  uses  equally  well  known.    Hun- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  IS? 

dreds  of  acres  are  cultivated  in  England  for  the 
flowers  to  be  used  in  distillation.  It  may  be  pro- 
pagated from  seed ;  but  is  easiest  propagated  from 
slips,  taken  off  in  the  spring,  and  planted  in  good 
moist  ground  in  the  shade.  When  planted  out  it 
should  be  in  rows  three  feet  apart  and  two  feet 
apart  in  the  rows.  If  the  flowers  be  to  be  preser- 
ved, the  flower-stalks  should  be  cut  off  before 
the  blossoms  begin  to  fade  at  all. 

229.  LEEK.  There  are  two  sorts :  the  narrow- 
leaved,  and  the  Jlag~leeky  the  latter  of  which  is 
by  much  the  best — Some  people  like  leeks  better 
than  onions ;  and  they  are  better  in  soup  — Sow 
in  the  fall,  or,  as  early  in  the  spring  as  you  can. — 
About  four  yards  square  is  enough.  Put  the  rows 
eight  inches  asunder,  and  thin  the  plants  to  three 
inches  apart  in  the  row. — Hoe  deeply  and  fre- 
quently between  the  plants  till  the  middle  of  July, 
and  then  take  the  plants  up,  cut  their  roots  off  te 
an  inch  long,  and  cut  off  the  leaves  also  a  good 
way  down.  Make  trenches,  like  those  for  Celery 
(which  see),  only  not  more  than  half  as  deefi,  and 
half  as  wide  afiart.  Manure  the  trenches  with 
rotten  dung,  or  other  rich  manure.  Put  in  the 
plants  as  you  do  the  Celery  plants,  and  at  about 
five  inches  asunder.  As  the  Leeks  grow,  earth, 
them  up,  by  degrees  like  celery ;  and  at  last,  you 
will  have  leeks  18  inches  long  under  ground,  any 
as  thick  as  your  wrist.  One  of  these  is  worth  a 
dozen  of  poor  little  hard  things.  If  you  have  a 
row  across  one  of  the  Plats  it  will  be  plenty,  per- 
haps. Such  row  will  contain  about  a  hundred  and 
sixty.  One  third  may  be  used,  perhaps,  before 
the  winter  sets  in ;  another  third  is  taken  up  and 
put  bv  for  the  winter,  in  preciselv  the  same  way 
14 


15S  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

that  Celery  is;  the  other  third,  covered  in  the 
same  way  that  Celery  is,  will  be  ready  for  spring 
use. — See  Celery  . — three  leeks  planted  out  for 
seed,  will  ripen  their  seed  in  August,  and  will 
give  you  seed  enough  for  the  next  year,  and  some 
to  give  to  five  or  six  neighbours. 

230.  LETTUCE.— This   great   article  of  the 
garden  is  milky,  refreshing,  and  pleasanter  to  a 
majority  of  tastes  than  any  other  plant,  the  Aspa- 
ragus hardly  excepted.     So  necessary  is  it  as  the 
principal   ingredient  of  a  good  salad,  that  it  is 
both  in  France  and  England  called    "salad"  by 
great  numbers  of  people.  It  is  goodins/ews ;  good 
bolied  with  green-peas ;  and,  even  as  a  dish  boiled 
as  cabbage  is,  it  is  an  excellent  vegetable.     Yet, 
I  never  saw  a  really  fine  Lettuce  ,n  America.  The 
obstacles  are,  the  complete  impossibility  of  pre- 
serving plants  of  the  fine   sorts   iu  the  natural 
ground  during  the  winter  ;  and  the  great  heat, 
which  will  not  suffer  those  sorts  to  have,  if  they 
be  sowed  in  the  natural  ground  in  the  spring. — 
The  hard  sorts  are  the  green  cabbage-lettuce  (or 
hardy  green),  and  the  brown  cabbage.  These  are 
Hat  plants.     Their   outside   leaves  spread  forth 
upon  the   ground,    and   they   curl  into  a  sort  of 
loaf  in  the  centre.     The  plants  of  these  may  be 
preserved  through  the  winter  in  the  natural  ground 
in  the  manner  directed  for  Endive  plants  (which 
see  under  Endive')   and    may    be  sowed  at  the 
same  time  for  that  purpose.     But  these  are  very 
poor  things.     They   have,   though    bleached   at 
the  heart,  a  slimy  feel  in   the  mouth  ;  and  are 
not  crisp  and  refreshing.  There  are,  I  believe, 
twenty  sorts,  two  of  which  only  it  will  be  enough 
to  mention,  green-coss  and  nvhite-coss,  the  former 


AMERICAN  GARDENER,  159 

of  which  is  of  a  darker  green  than  the  latter,  is 
rather  hardier  and  not  quite  so  good.  These 
when  true  to  their  kind  and  in  a  proper  situation, 
rise  up,  and  fold  in  their  leaves  to  a  solid  loaf, 
like  a  sugar-loaf  cabbage,  and,  in  rich  land,  with 
good  management  they  will  become  nearly  as 
large.  When  you  cut  one  of  these  from  the  stem, 
and  pull  off  its  outside  leaves,  you  have  a  large 
lumfi  of  white,  enough  for  a  salad  for  ten  people, 
unless  they  be  French,  and,  then  you  must  have 
a  lettuce  to  every  person.  Every  body  knows 
how  to  sow  lettuce-seed  along  a  drill,  in  the 
spring,  to  let  the  plants  stand  as  thick  as  grass, 
and  to  cut  it  along  with  a  knife,  and  gather  it 
up  by  handfuls.  But,  this  is  not  lettuce.  It  is 
herbage,  and  really  fit  only  for  pigs  and  eows. 
It  is  a  raw,  green,  Dandelion,  and  is  not  quite 
so  good. — The  plants  of  these  fine  sorts  may,  in- 
deed be  kept  through  the  winter  in  the  same 
manner,  and  with  the  same  care,  as  Cauliflower 
plants  (which  see  in  Paragraph  209)  ;  but,  if  this 
be  not  done,  you  must  raise  them  in  the  spring  in 
precisely  the  same  way  as  the  very  earliest  cab- 
bage-plants, for  which  see  Paragraphs  from  77 
to  94. — Put  the  plants  out  into  the  natural  ground, 
about  a  fortnight  before  the  general  Cornplanting 
time.  Do  not  put  them  in  a  place  full  to  the  sun. 
but  in  the  east  border,  or  in  the  west  border. 
Make  the  ground  rich,  right  strong,  break  it  well, 
and,  in  transplanting,  keep  as  much  earth  as  you 
can  about  the  roots,  and  give  a  little  water ;  and 
transplant  in  the  evening. — These  plants  will  loave 
about  the  time  of  the  early  cabbages,  and  some 
of  them  will  not  go  off  to  seed  for  six  weeks  af- 
ter they  are  loaved.    So  that,  about  two  square 


160  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

feet  of  a  hot-bed  will  give  you  a  great  quantity  or 
real  lettuces. — Let  one  plant  (a  very  fine  one) 
stand  for  seed ;  and  it  will  give  you  plenty  of  seed 
for  a  year  or  two. — Whenever  you  transplant 
Lettuces,  give  them  a  little  water,  and,  if  it  be  a 
small  bed,  shade  them  a  little.  If  you  sow  in  the 
natural  ground  in  the  spring,  be  sure  to  transplant 
into  the  shady  borders. — And  be  sure  always  to 
make  the  ground  rich  for  these  fine  Lettuces. 

231.  MANGEL-WURZEL— This  may  be 
called  Cattle-beet.  Some  persons  plant  it  in  gar- 
dens. It  is  a  coarse  Beet,  and  is  cultivated  and 
preserved  as  the  Beet  is. 

232.  MARJORAM.— One  sort  is  annual  and 
one  perennial.  The  former  is  called  summer  and 
the  latter  winter.  The  first  sown  as  early  as  pos- 
sible in  the  spring ;  and,  the  latter  propagated  by 
offsets  ;  that  is,  by  parting  the  roots.  The  plants 
may  stand  pretty  close.  As  the  winter  sort  can- 
not be  got  at  in  winter,  some  of  both  ought  to  be 
preserved  by  drying.  Cut  it  just  before  it  comes 
out  into  bloomy  hang  it  up  in  little  bunches  to  dry, 
first,  for  a  day,  in  the  sun ;  then  in  the  shade ; 
and,  when  quite  dry,  put  it  in  paper  bags,  tied  up 
and  the  bags  hung  up  in  a  dry  place. 

233.  MARIGOLD,— An  annual  plant.  Sow 
the  seed,  spring  or  fall  ;  when  |the  bloom  is  at 
full,  gather  the  flowers ;  pull  the  leaves  of  the 
flower  out  of  their  sockets ;  lay  them  on  paper  to 
dry,  in  the  shade.  When  dry  put  them  into  pa- 
per bags.  They  are  excellent  in  broths  and  soups 
and  stews.  Two  square  yards  planted  with  Ma- 
rigolds will  be  sufficient.  It  is  the  single  Mari- 
gold that  ought  to  be  cultivated  for  culinary  pur- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  161 

poses.    The  double  one  is  an  ornamental  flower, 
and  a  very  mean  one  indeed. 

234.     MELON.— There   are,   all   the    world 
knows,  two  distinct  tribes:  the  Musky  and  the 
Water.     Of  the  former  the  sorts  are  endless,  and, 
indeed,  of  the  latter  also.     Some  of  both  tribes 
are  globular  and   others  oblong  ;    and,  in  both 
tribes  there  are  different  colours,  as  well  with  re- 
gard to   flesh  as  to  rind. — In  this   fine  country, 
where  they  all  come  to  perfection  in  the  natural 
ground,  no  distinction  is  made  as  to  earliness,  or 
lateness  in  sorts;   and,   in  other  respects,  some 
like  one   sort  best,  and  some  another.     Amongst 
the  Musk  melons  the  Citron  is,  according  to  my 
taste,   the  finest   by  far;  and  the  finest  Water 
melons  that  I  have  ever  tasted  were  raised  from 
seed  that  came  out  of  melons  grown  in  Georgia 
— As  to  the  manner   of  propagating,  cultivating, 
and  sowing  the  seed  of  melons,  see  Cucumber, 
and  only  observe,  that  all  that  is  there  said  ap- 
plies to  melons  as  well  as  to  cucumbers.     To  have 
melons  a  month  earlier  than  the  natural  ground 
sowings  will  produce  them  is  an  object  of  much 
greater  importance  than  to  have  cucumbers  so 
much   earlier;  and,  to  accomplish  that    object^ 
you  have  only  to  use  the  same  means,  in  every  re- 
spect, that  I  have  described  for  the  getting  earlv 
cucumbers.     The   soil  should  be  rich  for  melons, 
but  it  ought  not  to  be  freshly  dunged;  for  that  is 
apt  to  rot  the  plants,  especially  in  a  wet  year. 
They  like  a  light  and  rather  sandy  soil,  and,  any 
where  near  the  sea,  wood  ashes,  or  sopers'  ashes, 
is  probably,  the   best  manure,  and  especially  in 
dry-bottomed  land  ;  for  ashes  attract  and  retain 
the  moisture  of  the  atmosphere.    It  is  a  great* 
14* 


162  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

mistake  to  suppose,  that  ashes  are  of  a  burning 
quality.  They  always  produce  the  most  and  best 
effect  in  dry  bottomed  land. — Melons  should  bo 
cultivated  well.  You  should  have  but  one  filam 
in  a  hill ;  and  should  till  the  ground  between  the 
plants,  while  they  are  growing,  until  it  be  cover- 
ed by  the  vines.  If  the  plants  stand  too  close,  the 
vines  will  be  weak,  and  fruit  small,  thick-rinded, 
and  poor  as  to  flavour. 

235.  MINT. — There  are  two  sorts:  one  is  of 
a  darker  green  than  the  other  :  the  former  is 
called  fiefifier-mint,  and  is  generally  used  for  dis- 
tilling to  make  mint  water ;  the  latter  which  is 
called  sfiear-mint,  is  used  for  the  table,  in  many- 
ways  The  French  snip  a  little  into  their  salads  ; 
we  boil  a  bunch  amongst  green  peas,  to  which  it 
gives  a  pleasant  flavour;  chopped  up  small,  and 
put,  along  with  sugar,  into  vinegar,  we  use  it  as 
sauce  for  roasted  lamb  ;  and  a  very  pleasant  sauce 
it  is. — Mint  may  be  propagated  from  seed  ;  but  a 
few  bits  of  its  roots  will  spread  into  a  bed  in  a 
year. — To  have  it  in  winter,  preserve  it  precise- 
ly like  Majoram  (which  see),  and,  instead  c>i  chop- 
ping it  for  sauce,  crumble  it  between  your  fingers. 

236.  MUSTARD.— There  is  a  white  seeded 
sort  and  a  brown  seeded.  The  white  mustard  is  used 
in  lad  along  with  the  Cress,  or  Pepper  Grass, 
a  is  s-,wn  and  cultivated  in  the  same  way  (See 
Cress.)  The  black  is  that  which  table  mustard 
is  made  of. — It  is  sown  in  rows,  two  feet  apart, 
early  in  the  spring.  The  plants  ought  to  be  thin- 
ned to  four  or  five  inches  apart.  Good  tillage  be- 
tween the  rows.  The  seed  will  be  ripe  in  July, 
and  then  the  stalks  should  be  cut  off,  and,  when 
quite  dry,  the  seed  threshed  out,  and  put  by  for 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  163 

use. — Why  should  any  man  that  has  a  garden 
buy  mustard?  Why  should  he  want  the  English 
to  send  him  out,  in  a  bottle,  and  sell  him  for  a 
quarter  of  a  dollar,  less  and  worse  mustard  than 
he  can  raise  in  his  garden  for  a  penny  ?  The 
English  mustard  is,  in  general,  diX-Km^  Fabricated, 
and  is  as  false  as  the  glazed  and  /lasted  goods, 
sent  out  by  the  fraudulent  fabricators  of  Manches- 
ter. It  is  a  composition  of  baked  bones  reduced 
to  powder,  some  wheat  flour,  some  colouring, 
and  a  drug  of  some  sort  that  gives  the  pungent 
taste.  Whoever  uses  that  mustard  freely  will 
find  a  burning  in  his  inside  long  after  he  has  sival- 
lowed  the  mustard.  Why  should  any  man,  who 
has  a  garden,  buy  this  poisonous  stuff  ?  The  mus- 
tard-seed ground  in  a  little  mustard  mill  is  what 
he  ought  to  use.  He  will  have  bran  and  all ;  and 
his  mustard  will  not  look  yellow  like  the  English 
composition  ;  but  we  do  not  object  to  Rye-bread 
on  account  of  its  colour  !  Ten  pounds  of  seed 
will  grow  upon  a  perch  of  ground  ;  and  ten  pounds 
of  mustard  is  more  than  any  man  can  want  in  a 
year.  The  plants  do  not  occupy  the  ground  more 
than  fourteen  weeks,  and  may  be  followed  by  ano- 
ther crop  of  any  plant,  and  even  of  mustard  if 
you  like.  This,  therefore,  is  a  very  useful  plant, 
and  ought  to  be  cultivated  by  every  farmer,  and 
every  man  who  hus  a  garden. 

237.  NASTURTIUM— An  annual  plant,  with 
a  half-red  half-yellow  flower,  which  has  an  offen- 
sive smell  ;  but,  it  bears  a  seed  enveloped  in  a 
fleshy  pod,  and  that  pod,  taken  before  the  seed 
becomes  ripe,  is  used  as  a  thing  to  pickle. — The 
seeds  should  be  sown  in  the  fall,  or  very  early  in 
the  Spring.    The  plants  should  have  pretty  long 


164  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

bushy  sticks  put  to  them  ;  and  four  6r  five  of  them 
will  bear  a  great  quantity  of  pods. — They  will 
grow  in  almost  any  ground;  but,  the  better  the 
ground  the  fewer  of  them  are  necessary. 

238.  ONION. — This  ,is  one  of  the  main  vege- 
tables. Its  uses  are  many  and  they  are  all  well 
known.  The  modes  of  cultivation  for  a  crop  are 
various.  Three!  shall  mention,  and  by  either  a 
good  crop  may  be  raised. — Sow  in  the  fall  (See 
Paragraph  159,)  or  early  in  the  Spring.  Let  the 
ground  be  rich  but  not  from  fresh  dung.  Make 
the  ground  very  fine ;  make  the  rows  a  foot  a  part 
and  scatter  the  seed  thinly  along  a  drill  two  inches 
deep.  Then  fill  in  the  drills  ;  and  then  press  the 
earth  down  upon  the  seed  by  treading  the  ground 
all  over.  Then  give  the  ground  a  very  slight 
smoothing  over  with  a  rake.— When  the  plants 
get  to  be  three  inches  high,  thin  them  to  four 
inches,  or  to  eight  inches  if  you  wish  to  have  very 
large  onions.  Keep  the  ground  clear  of  weeds  by 
hoeing  ;  but  do,  not  hoe  dee/i,  nor  raise  earth  about 
the  plants;  for  these  make  them  run  to  neck  and 
not  to  bulk. — When  the  tips  of  the  leaves  begin 
to  be  brown,  bend  down  the  necks,  so  that  the 
leaves  lie  flat  with  the  ground.  When  the  leaves 
are  nearly  dead,  pull  up  the  onions,  and  lay  them 
to  dry,  in  order  to  be  put  away  for  winter  use. — 
Some  persons,  instead  of  sowing  the  onions  all 
along  the  drill,  drop  four  or  five  seeds  at  every 
six  or  seven  inches  distance  ;  and  leave  the  onions 
to  grow  thus,  in  clumps  ;  and  this  is  not  a  bad 
way  ;  for,  they  will  squeeze  each  other  out.  They 
will  not  be  large  ;  but,  they  will  be  ripe  earlier, 
and  will  not  run  to  neck. — The  third  mode  of  cul- 
tivation is  as  follows:  sow  the  onions  anv  time 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  165 

between  April  and  the  middle  of  June,  in  drills 
six  inches  apart,  and  put  the  seed  very  thick  along 
the  drills.  Let  all  the  plants  stand,  and  they  will 
get  to  be  about  as  big  round  as  the  top  of  your 
little  finger.  Then  the  leaves  will  get  yellow,  and 
when  that  is  the  case,  pull  up  the  onions  and  lay 
them  on  a  board,  till  the  sun  have  withered  up  the 
leaves.  Then  take  these  diminutive  onions,  put 
them  in  a  bag,  and  hang  them  up  in  a  dry  place 
till  spring.  As  soon  as  the  frost  is  gone,  and  the 
ground  dry,  plant  out  these  onions  in  good  and 
fine  ground,  in  rows  a  foot  apart.  Make,  not  drills, 
but  little  marks  along  the  ground  ;  and  put  the 
onions  at  six  or  eight  inches  apart.  Do  not  cover 
them  with  the  earth  ;  but  just  firess  them  down 
upon  the  mark  with  your  thumb  and  forefinger. 
The  ground  ought  to  be  trodden  and  slightly  raked 
again  before  you  make  the  marks,  for  no  earth 
should  rise  up  about  the  plants. — Proceed  after 
this  as  with  sown  onions  ;  only  observe,  that, 
if  any  shouM  be  running  up  to  seed,  you  must 
twist  down  tne  neck  as  soon  as  you  perceive  it. 
But,  observe  this  :  the  shorter  the  time  that  these 
onions  have  been  in  the  ground  the  year  before, 
the  less  likely  will  they  be  to  run  to  seed. — Pre- 
serving onions  is  an  easy  matter  Frost  never 
hurts  them,  unless  you  move  them  during  the  time 
that  they  are  frozen.  Any  dry,  airy  place  will 
therefore  do.  They  should  not  be  kept  in  a.  warm 
place  ;  for  they  will  heat  and  grow.  The  neatest 
way  is  to  tie  them  up  in  ropes  ;  that  is  to  say,  to 
tie  them  round  sticks,  or  straight  straw,  with 
matting  (See  Endive). — For  seed,  pick  out  the 
finest  onions,  and  plant  them  out  in  rich  land,  in 
the  spring. — To  grow  this  seed  upon  a  large  scale 


166  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

plough  the  land  into  four  feet  ridges,  lay  plenty  of 
dung  along  the  furrows,  plough  the  ground  back 
over  the  dung,  flatten  the  top  of  the  ridge  a  little, 
and  put  along,  on  the  top  of  a  ridge  two  rows  of 
onions,  the  rows  seven  inches  apart,  and  the  onions 
seven  inches  apart  in  the  rows.  When  the  weeds 
come,  hoe  the  tops  of  the  ridges  with  a  small  hoey 
and  plough  first  from  and  then  to  the  ridges,  two 
orthree  timesatthe  distanceof  two  orthree  weeks, 
as  in  the  case  of  Ruta  Baga,  cultivated  in  the 
field. — When  the  seed  is  ripe,  cut  off  the  heads  and 
collect  them  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  scatter  the 
seed.  Lay  them,  on  cloths,  in  the  sun,  till  dry  as 
dust ;  and  then  thresh  out  the  seed,  winnow  it,  and 
put  it  away.  The  seed  will  be  dead  ripe  in 
August,  and  transplanted  Ruta  Baga,  or  Early 
York  Cabbages,  or  even  Kidney  dwarf  beans,  or, 
perhaps,  Buckwheat,  may  follow  upon  the  same 
ground,  the  same  year. — In  ^garden  there  always 
ought  to  be  a  crop  to  succeed  seed-onions  the 
same  summer.  «? 

239.  PARSLEY.— Known  to  every  human 
being  to  bear  i{s  seed  the  second  year,  and,  after 
that  to  die  away.  It  may  be  sown  at  any  season 
•when  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground.  The  best 
way  is  to  sow  it  in  spring,  and  in  very  clean 
ground  ;  because  the  seed  lies  long  in  the  ground, 
and,  if  the  ground  be  foul,  the  weeds  choak  the 
plants  at  their  coming-up. — A  bed  of  six  feet  long 
and  four  wide,  the  seed  sown  in  drills  at  eight 
inches  apart  is  enough  for  any  family  in  the 
world. — But,  every  body  likes  jiarsly  ;  and, 
where  the  winter  is  so  long  and  so  sharp  as  it  is  in 
this  country,  the  main  thing  is  to  be  able  to  kee/i 
Parsley  through  the  winter.    It  cannot   be    pre- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  167 

served  dry,  with  success,  like  Mini,  Marjoram,  and 
the  rest  of  the  pot-herbs.  It  is  possible  to  preserve 
it  green  because  I  have  done  it  ;  but,  it  loses  its 
smell  and  flavour.  Therefore  to  have  Parsley  in 
winter  you  must  keep  it  alive.  If  you  have  a 
Green-house  (or  you  may  do  it  even  in  any  of  the 
window  seats  of  a  house)  half  a  dozen  flower-pots, 
planted  with  stout  plants  in  September,  and  taken 
into  the  house  in  November,  will  be  sufficient.  As 
soon  as  winter  breaks  up,  put  them  out  in  the 
natural  ground :  and  thus  you  have  plenty  of" 
Parsley  all  the  year  round.  However,  Parsley 
may  be  preserved  in  the  natural  ground.  You 
have  only  to  put  straw,  or  leaves  of  trees,  or  long 
litter,  six  inches  thick  on  the  bed,  and  to  lay  on 
something  to  prevent  the  covering  .from  being 
blown  off,  (See  Endive.)  This  will  preserve  its 
leaves  from  being  destroyed  ;  and  when,  you  go 
to  get  it,  you  must  lift  up  the  covering,  of  a  part 
of  the  bed,  and  put  it  down  again. 

240.  PARSNIP. — As  to  the  season  of  sowing, 
sort  of  land,  preparation  of  ground,  distances, 
and  cultivation  and  tillage,  precisely  the  same  as 
the  Carrot,  which  see,  Paragraph  208.  But,  as 
to  preservation  during  winter,  and  for  spring  use, 
the  Parsnip  stands  all  frost  without  injury,  and 
even  with  benefit.  So  that,  all  you  want  is  to 
put  up  for  winter  as  many  as  you  want  during  the 
hard  frost,  and  these  you  may  put  up  in  the  same 
manner  as  directed  for  Carrots  and  Beets. — The 
greens  of  Parsnips  are  as  good  for  cow  feed  as 
those  of  Carrots  ;  but,  if  the  Parsnips  be  to  stand 
out  in  the  ground  all  the  winter,  the  greens  should 
not  oe  cut  off  in  the  fall. 


168  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

241.  PEA. — This  is  one  of  those  vegetables 
which  all  men  most  like.  Its  culture  is  universal 
where  people  have  the  means  of  growing  it. 
The  sorts  of  peas  are  very  numerous  ;  and  I  will 
mention  a  few  of  them  presently. — The  soil  should 
be  good,  and  fresh  dung  is  good  manure  for  them. 
Ashes  and  compost,  very  good ;  but  peas,  like 
Indian  Corn,  will  bear  to  be  actually  sown  upon 
dung.  Never  were  finer  peas  grown  than  there 
are  grown  in  the  United  States ;  and,  as  we  shall 
presently  see,  they  may  be  had,  in  the  open 
ground,  in  Long  Island,  from  first  of  June  till  the 
sharp  frosts  set  in. — The  sorts  are  numerous,  one 
class  is  of  a  small  size  and  the  other  large.  The 
latter  grow  taller ',  and  are  longer  in  coming  to 
perfection,  than  the  former.  The  earliest  of  all 
is  the  little  white  pea,  called,  in  Long  Island,  the 
May- Pea,  and  in  England,  the  early  frame-pea. 
Then  come  the  early  Charleton,  the  Hotspur,  the 
Blue  Pea,  the  Dwarf,  and  Tall  Marrowfats ; 
and  several  others,  especially  the  Knight  Pea, 
the  seed  of  which  is  rough,  uneven  shaped  and 
shrivelled,  and  the  plant  of  which  grows  very  tall. 
— All  the  sorts  may  be  grown  in  America,  without 
sticks,  and  even  better  than  with.  I  have,  this 
year  (1819)  the  finest  peas  I  ever  saw,  and  the 
crop  the  most  abundant.  And  this  is  the  manner, 
in  which  I  have  sown  and  cultivated  them.  1 
ploughed  the  ground  into  ridges,  the  tops  of 
which  (for  the  dwarf  sorts)  were  four  feet  apart, 
I  then  put  a  good  parcel  of  yard-dung  into  the 
furrows ;  and  ploughed  the  earth  back  upon  the 
dung,  I  then  levelled  the  top  of  the  ridge  a  little, 
and  drew  two  drills  along  upon  it  at  six  inches 
distant  from  each  other.    In  these  I  sowed  the 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  169 

peas.  When  the  peas  were  about  three  inches 
high,  I  hoed  the  ground  deep  and  well  between 
the  rows  and  on  each  outside  of  them.  I  then 
ploughed  the  ground  from  them,  and  to  them 
again,  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  case  of  Swedish 
Turnips.  In  a  week  or  two  afterwards  they  had 
another  ploughing;  and  soon  after  this  the^  fell, 
and  lay  down  the  sides  of  the  ridges.  This  was 
the  way  in  which  I  managed  all  the  sorts,  only  in 
the  case  of  the  Knight  Pea  I  put  the  ridges  at  six 
feet  asunder. — This  was,  of  every  sort,  the  very 
finest  crop  of  peas  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  When 
not  sticked,  and  sown  upon  level  ground,  peas 
fall  about  irregularly,  and,  in  case  of  much  wet, 
the  under  pods  rot ;  but,  from  the  ridges  they  fall 
regularly,  and  the  wet  does  not  lodge  about  them. 
You  walk  up  the  furrows  to  gather  the  peas ;  and 
nothingcan  be  more  beautiful,  or  more  convenient. 
The  culture  in  the  garden  may  be  the  same, 
except  that  the  work  which  is  done  with  the/ilough 
in  the  field,  must,  in  the  garden,  be  done  with  the 
spade. — As  to  seasons,  the  early  pea  may  be 
sown  in  the  fall.  See  Paragraph  159.  But,  in 
this  case,  care  must  be  taken  to  guard  against 
mice.  Sow  about  four  inches  deep,  and  tread  the 
ground  well  down.  When  the  frost  sets  in  all 
is  safe  till  winter  breaks  up.  These  peas  will  be 
earlier  by  ten  or  fifteen  days  than  any  that  you 
can  sow  in  the  spring. — If  you  sow  in  the  spring, 
do  it  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  dry  enough  to  go 
upon.  Sow  the  May  Pea,  some  Charletons,  some 
Hotspurs,  some  Blue  Peas,  some  Marrowfats, 
and  some  Knight  Pea,  all  at  the  same  time,  and 
they  will  come  one  after  another,  so  as  to  give  you 
green  peas  till  nearly  August.  In  June  (about 
*5 


170  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

the  middle)  sow  some  early  pea  again  and  also 
some  marrowfats  and  Knight  Pea;  and  these  will 
give  you  peas  till  September.  Sow  some  of  each 
sort  middle  of  August,  and  they  will  give  you 
green  peas  till  the  hardish  frosts  come. — But, 
these  two  last  sowings  (June  and  August)  ought  to 
be  under  the  South  fence,  so  as  to  get  as  much 
coolnesses  possible. 

242.  PENNYROYAL.— A  medicinal  herb. 
It  is  perennial.  A  little  patch,  a  foot  square  is 
enough. 

243.  PEPPER.— See  Capsicum. 

244.  PEPPER  GRASS.— See  Cress, 

245  ^  POTATO. Every  body   knows  how 

to  cultivate  this  plant ;  and,  as  to  its  preservation 
during  winter,  if  you  can  ascertain  the  degree  of 
warmth  necessary  to  keep  a  baby  from  perishing, 
you  know  precisely  the  precautions  required  to 
preserve  a  potato.  As  to  sorts  they  are  as  nu- 
merous as  the  stones  of  a  pavement  in  a  large 
city  ;  but,  there  is  one  sort  earlier  than  all  others. 
It  is  a  small  round,  white  potato,  that  has  no 
blossom,  and  the  leaf  of  which  is  of  a  pale  green, 
very  thin,  very  smooth,  and  nearly  of  the  shape 
and  size  of  the  inside  of  a  lemon  cut  asunder 
longways.  This  potato,  if  planted  with  other 
sorts  in  the  spring,  will  be  ripe  six  weeks  sooner 
than  any  other  sort.  I  have  had  two  cro/is 
of  potatoes  ripen  on  the  same  ground  in  the 
same  year,  in  England;  the  second  crop  from 
potatoes  of  the  first.  Two  crops  could  be  raised 
in  America  with  the  greatest  facility.  But,  if 
you  once  get  this  sort,  and  wish  to  keep  it,  you 
must  take  care  that  no  other  sort  grow  with  it, 
or  near  it  ;  for,  potatoes  of  this  kind  mix  the 


AMERI  CAN  GARDENER.  171 

breed  more  readily  than  any  thing  else,  though 
they  have  no  bloom  I  If  some  plants  of  this 
blossomless  kind  grow  with  or  near  the  other 
kinds,  they  will  produce  plants  with  a  rough  leaf,, 
some  of  them  will  even  blow,  and  they  will  lose 
their  quality  of  earliness.  This  is  quite  enough  to 
prove  the  fallacy  of  the  doctrine  of  a  communi- 
cation of  the  farina  of  the  flowers  of  plants. 

246.  POTATO.  (Sweet).— This  plant  is 
cultivated  in  much  the  same  way  as  the  last. 
Meat  is  what  it  chiefly  wants ;  and  great  care 
indeed  must  be  taken  to  preserve  it  in  winter. 

247.  PUMPKIN.— See  Cucumber.  The  cul- 
tivation is  the  same,  and  every  body  knows  the 
different  qualities  of  the  different  sorts,  and  how 
to  preserve  and  use  them  all. 

248.  PURSLANE.— A  mischievous  weed 
that  Frenchmen  and  pigs  eat  when  they  can  get 
nothing  else.  Both  use  it  in  salad,  that  is  to 
say,  raw. 

249.  RADISH.— A  great  variety  of  sorts. 
Sown  thin  in  little  drills  six  inches  asunder. 
Sown  as  early  as  possible  in  the  spring,  and  a 
little  bed  every  three  weeks  all  summer  long. 
The  early  scarlet  is  the  best.  Radishes  may  be 
raised  early  in  a  hot-bed,  precisely  as  cabbage- 
plants  are. 

250.  RAMPION.— This  is  the  smallest  seed 
of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  A  thimble 
full,  properly  distributed,  would  sow  an  acre  of 
land.  It  is  sown  in  the  spring,  in  very  fine  earth. 
Its  roots  are  used  in  soups  and  salads.  Its  leaves 
are  also  used  in  salads.  A  yard  square  is  enough 
for  any  garden. 


172  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

251.  RAPE. — This  is  a  field  filant  for  sheep  y 
but  it  is  very  good  to  sow  like  White  Mustard,  to 
use  as  salad,  and  it  is  sown  and  raised  in  the  same 
way. 

252.  RHUBARB.— This  is  one  of  the  capital 
articles  of  the  garden,  though  I  have  never  seen 
it  in  America.  The  Dock  is  the  wild  Rhubarb, 
and  if  you  look  at,  and  taste,  the  root,  you  will 
see  the  proof  of  it  The  Rhubarb  plant  has 
leaves  as  broad  and  long  as  those  of  the  burr* 
dock.  It  comes  forth,  like  the  dock,  very  early 
in  the  spring.  When  its  leaves  are  pretty  large, 
you  cut  them  off  close  to  the  stem,  and,  if  the 
plant  be  fine,  the  stalk  of  the  leaf  will  be  from 
eight  inches  to  a  foot  long.  You  peel  the  outside 
skin  from  these  stalks,  and  then  cut  the  stalks  up 
into  bits  about  as  big  as  the  first  joint  of  a  lady's 
third  finger.  You  put  these  into  puddings,  pies, 
tarts,  just  as  you  would  green  gooseberries  and 
green  currants,  and  some  people  think  they  are 
better  than  either  :  at  any  rate,  they  are  full  six 
weeks  earlier.  The  plant,  like  the  dock,  is  hardy, 
is  raised  from  seed,  from  the  roots,  will  grow  in 
any  ground,  though  best  in  rich  ground  ;  and  the 
same  plants  will  last  for  an  age.  It  is  a  very 
valuable  plant,  and  no  garden  ought  to  be  without 
it.  I  should  think,  that  a  hundred  wagon-loads 
of  the  stalks  are  yearly  sold  in  London  A  bunch 
which  you  can  clasp  with  your  two  hands  sells 
for  a  shilling  or  two  in  the  very  early  part  of  the 
season  ;  and  that  is  nearly  half  a  dollar.  This 
circumstance  sufficiently  speaks  its  praise. 

253.  ROSEMARY  is  a  beautiful  little  shrub. 
One  of  them  may  be  enough  in  a  garden.    It  is 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  173 

propagated  from  sli/is,  taken  off  in  the  spring  and 
planted  in  a  cool  place. 

254.  RUE. — Still  more  beautiful.  Propaga- 
ted in  the  same  manner.  One  plant  of  the  kind 
is  enough. 

255.  RUTA  BAGA.— (See  Turni/i.) 

256.  SAGE  is  raised  from  seed,  or  from  slips. 
To  have  it  at  hand  for  winter  it  is  necessary  to 
dry  it ;  and  it  ought  to  be  cut,  for  this  purpose, 
before  it  comes  out  into  bloomy  as,  indeed,  is  the 
case  with  all  other  herbs. 

257.  SALSAFY,  called,  by  some,  oyster p,lanty 
is  good  in  soups,  to  eat  like  the  parsniji.  It  is 
cultivated  like  the  parsnip,  and,  like  it,  stands 
out  the  whole  of  an  American  winter. 

258.  SAMPHIRE  is  propagated  from  seed, 
or  from  offsets.  It  is  perennial,  and  is  sometimes 
used  as  a  pickle,  or  in  salads. 

259.  SAVORY. — Two  sorts,  summer  and 
winter.  The  former  is  annual,  and  the  latter 
perennial. 

260.  SAVOY.— See  Cabbage,  Paragraph  201. 

261.  SCORZENERA.— This  is  only  another 
*nd  of  Salsafy.     It   is  cultivated  and  used  in 

the  same  manner  as  Salsafy  is. 

262.  SHALOT.— A  little  sort  of  Onion,  which 
is  taken  up  in  the  fall  and  kept  tor  winter  use. 
Each  plant  multiplies  itself  in  the  summer  by 
adding  offsets  all  round  it.  One  of  them  is  a 
plant  to  put  out  in  the  spring  to  produce  other 
offsets  for  use  and  for  planting  out  again.  They 
should  be  planted  in  rows  six  inches  apart,  and 
four  inches  apart  in  the  rows.  The  ground  should 
not  be  wet  at  bottom,  and  should  be  kept  very 
clean  during  the  summer. 

15* 


274  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

263.  SKIRRET  is  cultivated  from  its  rout, 
which  is  used  in  soups.  It  may  be  raised  from 
seed,  or  from  offsets.  It  is  perennial,  and  a  very 
small  patch  may  suffice. 

264.  SORREL.— This  is  no  other  than  the 
wild  sorrel  cultivated.  It  is  propagated  from 
seed,  or  from  offsets.  It  is  perennial.  The 
French  make  large  messes  of  it;  but  a  foot  square 
may  suffice  for  an  American  garden. 

265.  SPINACH. — Every  one  knows  how  good 
and  useful  a  plant  this  is.  It  is  certainly  pre- 
ferable to  any  of  the  cabbage  kind  in  point  of 
wholesomeness,  and  it  is  of  very  easy  cultivation. 
There  is,  in  fact,  but  one  sort,  that  I  know  any 
thing  of,  though  the  seed  is  sometimes  more 
prickly  than  at  other  times.  To  have  spinach 
very  early  in  the  spring,  sow  (Long  Island)  on 
or  about  the  first  week  of  September,  in  drills  a 
foot  apart,  and,  when  the  plants  are  well  up,  thin 
them  to  six  inches.  They  will  be  fine  and  strong 
by  the  time  that  the  winter  sets  in  ;  and,  as  soon 
as  that  time  comes,  cover  them  over  well  with 
straw,  and  keep  the  straw  on  till  the  breaking 
up  of  the  frost.  Sow  more  as  soon  as  the  frost 
is  out  of  the  ground ;  and  this  will  be  in  per- 
fection in  June.  You  may  sow  again  in  May ; 
but  the  plants  will  go  off  to  seed  before  they 
attain  to  much  size.  If  you  save  seed,  save  it 
from  plants  that  have  stood  the  winter. 

266.  SQUASH  is,  in  all  its  varieties,  culti- 
vated like  the  Cucumber,  which  see. 

267.  TANSY,  a  perennial  culinary  and  med 
cinal  herb,  propagated  from  seed,  or  offsets.  On 
root  in  a  garden  is  enough. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  17 S 

268.  TARRAGON  is  a  very  hot,  peppery 
herb.  It  is  used  in  soup  and  sallads.  It  is  pe- 
rennial, and  may  be  propagated  from  seed,  or 
from  offsets,  or  slips,  put  out  in  spring.  Its 
young  and  tender  tops  only  are  used.  It  is  eaten 
with  beef- steaks  in  company  with  minced  shalots. 
A  man  may  live  very  well  without  it  ;  but,  an 
Englishman  once  told  me,  that  he  and  six  others 
once  eat  some  beef-steaks  with  Shalots  and  Tar- 
ragon, and  that  4t  they  voted  unanimously,  that 
*'  beef  steaks  never  were  so  eaten  !"  It  must  be 
dried,  like  mint,  for  winter  use. 

269.  THYME. — There  are  two  distinct  sorts. 
Both  are  perennial,  and  both  may  be  propagated 
either  from  seed,  or  trom  offsets. 

270.  TOMATUM.—This  plant  comes  from 
the  countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean. 
In  England  it  requires  to  be  raised  in  artificial 
heat,  and  to  be  planted  out  against  Warm  walls. 
Here  it  would  require  neither.  It  climbs  up  very 
high,  and  would  require  bushy  sticks.  It  bears  a 
sort  of  apple  about  as  big  as  a  black  walnut  with 
its  green  husk  on.  Its  fruit  is  used  to  thicken 
stews  and  soups,  and  great  quantities  are  sold  in 
London.  It  is  raised  from  seed  only,  being  an 
annual  ;  and  the  seed  should  be  sown  at  a  great 
distance,  seeing  that  the  plants  occupy  a  good 
deal  of  room. 

271.  TURNIP.— It  is  useless  to  attempt  to 
raise  them  by  sowing  in  the  spring;  they  are 
never  good  till  the  fall. — The  sorts  of  Turnips 
are  numerous,  but,  for  •&  garden,  it  is  quite  suffi- 
cient to  notice  three  ;  the  early  white,  the  flat 
■yellow,  and  the  Swedish,  or  Rutabaga,  which 
last  is  a  very  different  plant    indeed  from  the 


176  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

other  two. — The  two  former  sorts  should  be  sown 
about  the  end  of  July,  in  rows  (in  a  garden)  two 
feet  apart,  and  thinned  out  to  a  foot  distance  in 
the  rows.  Good  and  deep  hoeing  and  one  digging 
should  take  place  during  their  growth  ;  for,  a  large 
turnip  of  the  same  age  is  better,  weight  for  weight, 
than  a  small  one,  just  as  the  largest  apples,  or 
peaches,  growing  upon  the  same  tree,  are  better 
than  the  small  ones  growing  on  it  the  same  year. — 
The  Swedish  turnip,  so  generally  preferred  for 
table  use  here,  and  so  seldom  used  for  the  table 
in  England,  ought  to  be  sown  early  in  June,  in 
rows  at  a  foot  apart  and  thinned  to  three  inches 
in  the  rows.  About  the  middle  of  July  they 
ought  to  be  transplanted  upon  ridges  three  feet 
apart  (in  a  garde?i),  and  during  their  growth, 
ought  to  be  kept  clean,  and  to  be  dug  between 
twice  at  least,  as  deep  as  a  good  spade  can  be 
made  to  go. — As  to  the  preserving  of  turnips 
during  the  winter,  follow  precisely  the  directions 
given  for  the  preserving  of  Beets,  See  Beet. — 
But  the  Swedish  Turnip  is  of  further  use  as  pro- 
ducing most  excellent  greens  in  the  spring,  and 
at  a  very  early  season.  To  draw  this  benefit 
from  them  the  best  way  is,  to  leave  a  row  or  two 
in  the  ground,  and  when  the  winter  is  about  to 
set  in,  cover  them  all  over  with  straw  or  cedar 
boughs.  Take  these  off  when  the  winter  breaks 
up,  and  you  will  have  very  early  and  most  ex- 
cellent greens  ;  and  when  you  have  done  with 
the  greens,  the  Turnips  are  very  good  to  eat. 

272.  WORMWOOD  is  a  herb  purely  medi- 
cinal. It  may  be  propagated  from  seed,  from 
slips,  or  from  offsets.  It  ought  not  to  occupy  a 
space  of  more  than  a  foot  square.  It  must  be 
dried  and  put  by  in  bags  for  winter  use. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  17Y 


CHAPTER  V. 

FRUITS. 

Propagation,  Planting,  Cultivation, 

PROPAGATION. 

273.  All  the  fruits  to  be  treated  of  here,  ex- 
cept the  Strawberry,  are  the  produce  of  trees, 
or  of  woody  plants.  All  these  may  be  propa- 
gated from  seed,  and  some  are  so  propagated.  But 
others  are  usually  propagated  by  cuttings,  slips, 
layers,  or  suckers ;  or  by  budding  or  grafting 
upon  stocks. 

274.  The  methods  of  propagation,  best  suited 
to  each  kind,  will  be  mentioned  under  the  name 
of  the  kinds  respectively  ;  and  therefore,  in  this 
place  I  am  to  describe  the  several  methods  ge- 
nerally, and  the  management  suited  to  each. 

275.  When  the  propagation  is  from  seed,  the 
sowing  should  be  in  good  ground,  finely  broken, 
and  the  seed  should  by  no  means  be  sown  too 
thick.  How  to  save  and  preserve  the  seed  will 
be  spoken  of  under  the  names  of  the  several 
trees.  But  the  seed  being  good,  it  should  be  well 
sown,  well  covered,  and  carefully  preserved  from 
mice  and  other  vermin. 

276.  CUTTINGS  are  short  pieces,  cut  in  the 
spring,  from  shoots  of  the  last  year,  and  it  is,  in 
most  cases,  best,  if  they  have  a  joint  or  two  of  the 
former  year*s  wood  at  the  bottom  of  them.  The 
cutting  should  have  altogether,  about  six  joints, 
or  buds ;  and  three  of  these  should  be  under 
ground  when  planted.    The  cuts  should  be  per- 


178  AMERICAN   GARDENER. 

formed  with  a  sharp,  knife,  so  that  there  may  be 
nothing  ragged  or  bruised  about  either  wood  or 
bark.  The  time  for  taking  off  cuttings  is  that  of 
the  breaking  up  of  the  frost.  They  should  be 
planted  in  a  shady  place,  and  watered  with  rain 
water,  in  dry  weather,  until  they  have  got  shoots 
several  inches  long.  When  they  have  such 
shoots  they  have  roots,  and  when  they  have  these, 
no  more  watering  is  necessary.  Besides  these 
occasional  waterings,  the  ground  should,  espe- 
cially in  hot  countries,  be  covered  with  leaves  of 
trees,  or  muck,  or  something  that  will  keep  the 
ground  cool  during  the  hot  and  dry  weather. 

277.  SLIPS  differ  from  cuttings  in  this,  that 
the  former  are  not  cut,  but  pulled,  from  the  tree. 
You  take  a  shoot  of  the  last  year,  and  pull  it 
downwards,  and  thus  slip  it  off.  You  trim  the 
ragged  back  off;  then  shorten  the  shoot  so  that  it 
have  six  joints  left ;  and  then  plant  it  and  manage 
it  in  the  same  manner  as  directed  for  cuttings. 
The  season  for  the  work  is  also  the  same. 

278.  LAYERS.— -You  take  a  limb,  or  branch 
of  a  tree,  in  the  fall,  or  early  in  the  Spring,  and 
pull  it  down  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  its  top,  or 
small  shoots  and  twigs  to  lie  upon  the  ground. 
Then  fasten  the  limb  down  by  a  peg  or  two,  so 
that  its  own  force  will  not  raise  it  up.  Then 
prune  off  all  the  small  branches  and  shoots  that 
stick  upright ;  and,  having  a  parcel  of  shoots 
lying  horizontally,  lay  earth  upon  the  whole,  all 
along  upon  the  limb  from  the  point  where  it 
begins  to  touch  the  ground,  and  also  upon  all 
the  bottoms  of  all  the  shoots.  Then  cut  the  shoots 
off  at  the  points,  leaving  only  two  or  three  joints 
or  buds  beyond  the  earth.    The  earth  laid  ont 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  1/9 

should  be  good,  and  the  ground  should  be  fresh- 
digged  and  made  very  fine  and  smooth  before  the 
branches  be  laid  upon  it.  The  earth,  laid  on, 
should  be  from  six  inches  to  a  foot  thick.  If  the 
limb,  or  mother  branch,  be  very  stubborn,  a  little 
cut  on  the  lower  side  of  it  will  make  it  the  more 
easy  to  be  held  down.  The  ground  should  be 
kept  clean  from  weeds,  and  as  cool  as  possible  in 
hot  weather.  Perhaps  rocks  or  stones  (net  large) 
are  the  best  and  coolest  covering.  These  layers 
will  be  ready  to  take  up  and  plant  out  as  trees  af- 
ter they  have  been  laid  a  year. 

279.  SUCKERS  are,  in  general,  but  poor 
things,  whether  in  the  forest,  or  in  the  fruit  gar- 
den. They  are  shoots  that  come  up  from  the 
roots,  at  a  distance  from  the  stem  of  the  tree,  or, 
at  least,  they  do  not  come  out  of  that  stem. 
They  run  to  wood  and  to  suckers  more  than  trees 
do  that  are  raised  in  any  other  way.  Fruit  trees 
raised  from  suckers  do  not  bear  so  abundantly, 
and  such  good  fruit,  as  trees  raised  from  cuttings, 
slips  or  layers.  A  sucker  is,  in  fact,  a  little  tree 
with  more  or  less  of  root  to  it,  and  is,  of  course, 
to  be  treated  as  a  tree. 

280  BUDDING  —To  have  fruit  trees  oy  this 
method,  or  by  that  oi  grafting,  you  must  first  have 
stocks;  that  is  to  say,  a  young  tree  to  bud  or 
graft  upon.  What  are  the  sorts  of  stocks  proper 
for  the  sorts  of  fruit-trees  respectively  will  be 
mentioned  under  the  names  of  the  latter.  The 
stock  is  a  young  tree  of  some  sort  or  other,  and 
the  bud  is  put  into  the  bark  on  the  side  of  this 
young  tree  during  the  summer;  and  not  before 
the  bud  be  full  and  plump.  The  work  may  ge- 
nerally be  done  all  through  the  months  of  July 
and  August,  and,  perhaps,  later. 


180  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

281.  GRAFTING  is  the  joining  of  a  cutting 
of  one  to  another  tree  in  such  a  way  as  that  the 
tree,  on  which  the  cutting  is  placed,  sends  up  its 
sap  into  the  cutting,  and  makes  it  grow  and  be- 
come a  tree.  Now,  as  to  the  way,  in  which  this, 
and  the  way  in  which  budding,  is  done>  they  can- 
not, upon  any  principle  consistent  with  common 
sense,  become  matter  of  written  description. 
Each  is  a  mechanical  operation,  embracing  nu- 
merous movements  of  the  arms,  hands,  and 
fingers,  and  is  no  more  to  be  taught  by  written  di- 
rections than  the  making  of  a  chest  of  drawers  is. 
To  read  a  full  and  minute  account  of  the  act, 
of  budding  and  grafting  would  require  ten  times 
the  space  of  time  that  it  requires  to  go  to  a  neigh- 
bour's and  learn,  from  a  sight  of  the  operation* 
that  which,  after  all,  no  written  directions  would 
ever  teach.  To  bud  and  graft,  in  alJ  the  various 
modes,  form  a  much  nicer  and  more  complicated 
operation  than  that  of  making  a  shoe  ;  and  I  defy 
any  human  being  to  describe  adequately  all  the 
several  acts  in  the  making  of  a  shoe,  in  less  than 
two  volumes  each  larger  than  this.  The  season 
for  taking  off  the  cuttings  for  grafts,  is  any  time 
betwen  Christmas  and  March.  Any  time  after 
the  sap  is  completely  in  a  quiescent  state  and  be- 
fore it  be  again  in  motion.  When  cut  off  they 
will  keep  several  months.  I  cut  some  here  in 
January  last  (1819).  They  reached  England  in 
March ;  and,  I  hear  that  they  were  growing  well 
in  June.  A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  the 
season  for  grafting,  and  Mr.  Marshall  tells 
the  English,  that  it  must  not  be  done  till  the  sap 
in  the  stock  is  just  ready  to  flow  freely.  He  had 
never  seen  an  American  Negro-man  sitting  by  a 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  181 

hot  six-plated  stove,  grafting  apple-trees,  in  the 
month  of  January,  and  then  putting  them  away  in 
his  cave,  to  be  brought  out  and  planted  in  April ! 
I  have  seen  this  ;  and  my  opinion  is,  that  the 
work  may  be  done  at  any  time  between  October 
and  May  ;  nay,  I  am  not  sure,  that  it  may  not  be 
done  all  the  summer  long.  The  cuttings,  too, 
may  be  taken  off  and  put  on  directly ;  and  the 
sooner  the  better ;  but,  in  the  winter  months,  they 
will  keep  good  off  the  tree  for  several  months. 

282.  STOCKS  must  be  of  different  ages  and 
sizes  in  different  cases ;  and  even  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  stocks  themselves  is  not  to  be  over- 
looked. Stocks  are  formed  out  of  suckers ,  or 
raised  from  the  seed',  and  the  latter  is  by  far 
the  best ;  for  suckers  produce  suckers,  and  do 
not  grow  to  a  handsome  stem,  or  trunk.  Crabs 
are  generally  the  stocks  for  Apple-grafts,  and 
Plums  for  Pears,  Peaches,  Nectarines,  and  Apri- 
cots. However,  we  shall  speak  of  the  sorts  of 
Stocks,  suitable  to  each  sort  of  fruit-tree  by  and 
by  :  at  present  we  have  to  speak  of  the  raising  of 
Stocks.  If  the  stocks  be  to  be  of  crabs  or  apples, 
the  seeds  of  these  should  be  collected  in  the  fall 
when  the  fruit  is  ripe.  They  are  generally  got 
out  by  mashing  the  crabs  or  apples.  When  the 
seeds  are  collected,  put  them  immediately  into 
fine  earth ;  or  sow  them  at  once.  It  may  not, 
however,  be  convenient  to  sow  them  at  once :  and 
perhaps,  the  best  way  is  to  sow  very  early  in  the 
spring.  If  the  Stocks  be  to  be  of  stone  fruit,  the 
stones,  as  of  cherries,  plums  peaches  and  others, 
must  be  got  when  the  fruit  is  ripe.  The  best  way 
is  to  put  them  into  fine  earth,  and  keep  them 
there  till  spring.  The  earth  may  be  placed  in  a 
16 


182  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

cellar  ;  or  put  into  a  barrel ;  or  a  little  pit  may  be 
made  in  the  ground,  and  it  may  be  placed  there. 
When  the  winter  breaks  up,  dig  apiece  of  ground 
deep,  and  make  it  rich ;  make  it  very  fine  ;  form 
it  into  beds,  three  feet  wide  ;  draw  drills  across  it 
at  8  inches  distance ;  make  them  from  two  to  three 
inches  deep ;  put  in  the  seeds  pretty  thick  (for 
they  cost  little) ;  cover  them  completely ;  tread 
the  earth  down  upon  them  ;  and  then  smooth  the 
surface.  When  the  plants  come  up,  thin  them 
to  about  three  inches  apart ;  and  keep  the  ground 
between  them  perfectly  clean  during  the  summer. 
Hoe  frequently ;  but  not  deep  near  the  plants ; 
for,  we  are  speaking  of  trees  here  5  and  trees  do 
not  renew  their  roots  quickly  as  a  cabbage,  or  a 
turnip  does.  These  young  trees  should  be  kept 
during  the  first  summer,  as  moist  as  possible,  with- 
out watering  ;  and  the  way  to  keep  them  as  moist 
as  possible  is  to  keep  the  ground  perfectly  clean 
and  to  hoe  it  frequently.  I  cannot  help  observ- 
ing here  upon  an  observation  of  Mr.  Marshall  : 
"  as  to  "  weeding- ,"  says  he,  "though  seedling 
"  trees  must  not  be  smothered,  yet  some  small 
"  weeds  may  be  suffered  to  grow  in  summer,  as 
"  they  help  to  shade  the  plants  and  to  keep  the 
"  ground  cool."  Mercy  on  this  Gentleman's 
readers !  Mr.  Marshall  had  not  read  Tull  ;  if 
lie  had,  he  never  would  have  written  this  very 
erroneous  sentence.  It  is  the  root  ot  the  weed 
that  does  the  mischief.  Let  there  be  a  rod  of 
ground  well  set  with  even  "small  weeds"  and 
another  rod  kept  weeded.  Let  them  adjoin  each 
other.  Go,  after  15  or  20  days  of  dry  weather  ; 
examine  the  two  ;  and  you  will  find  the  weedless 
ground  moist  and  fresh,  while  the  other  is  as.  dry 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  1S3 

as  dust  to  a  foot  deep.  The  root  of  the  weed  sucks 
up  every  particle  of  moisture.  What  pretty 
things  they  are,  then,  to  keep  seedling  trees 
cool! — -To  proceed:  these  seedlings  if  well  ma- 
naged, will  be  eight  inches  high,  and  some  high- 
er, at  the  end  of  the  first  summer.  The  next 
spring  they  should  be  taken  up;  or  this  may  be 
done  in  the  fall.  They  should  be  planted  in  rows, 
four  feet  apart,  to  give  room  to  turn  about  amongst 
them  ;  and  at  two  feet  apart  in  the  rows,  if  intend- 
ed to  be  grafted  or  budded  without  being  again 
removed.  If  intended  to  be  again  removed,  be- 
fore grafting  or  budding,  they  may  be  put  at  a  foot 
apart.  They  should  be  kept  clean  by  hoeing  be- 
tween them,  and  the  ground  between  them  should 
be  dug  in  the  fall,  but  not  at  any  other  season  of 
the  year.-r-The  plants  will  grow  fast  or  slowly 
according  to  the  soil  and  management ;  and  he 
who  knows  how  to  bud  or  to  graft,  will  know 
when  the  stock  is  arrived  at  the  proper  size  for 
each  purpose. — To  speak  of  the  kind  of  stocks 
most  suitable  to  the  different  kinds  of  fruit-trees 
is  reserved  till  we  come  to  speak  of  the  trees 
themselves ;  but  there  are  some  remarks  to  be 
made  here,  which  have  a  general  application , 
relative  to  the  kinds  of  stocks. — It  is  supposed 
by  some  persons,  that  the  nature  of  the  stock 
affects  the  nature  of  the  fruit',  that  is  to  say, 
that  the  fruit  growing  on  branches,  proceeding 
from  a  bud  or  a  graft,  partakes  more  or  less  of 
the  flavour  of  the  fruit  which  would  have  grown 
on  the  stock,  if  the  stock  had  been  suffered  to 
grow  to  a  tree  and  to  bear  fruit.  This  is  Mr. 
Marshall's  notion.  But,  how  erroneous  it  is, 
must  be  manifest  to  every  one  when  he  reflects 


184  AMERICAN  GARDENER 

that  the  stock  for  the  pear  tree  is  frequently  the 
white-thorn.  Can  a  pear  partake  of  the  nature 
of  the  haw,  which  grows  upon  the  thorn,  and 
which  is  a  stone-fruit  too?  If  this  notion  were 
correct,  there  could  be  hardly  a  single  apple- 
orchard  in  all  England :  for,  they  graft  upon 
crab-stocks ;  and,  of  course,  all  the  apples,  in 
the  course  of  years,  would  become  crabs.  Apri- 
cots and  Peaches  are,  in  England,  always  put  on 
plum-stocks ;  yet,  after  centuries  of  this  practice, 
they  do  not  become  plums.  If  the  fruit  of  the 
graft  partake  of  the  nature  of  the*  stock,  why 
not  the  wood  and  leaves^  Yet,  is  it  not  visible 
to  all  eyes,  that  neither  ever  does  so  partake  ; — 
This,  then,  like  the  carrying  off  the  farina  from 
the  male  to  the  female  flower  is  a  mere  whim,  or 
dream.  The  bud,  or  graft,  retains  its  own  na- 
ture, wholly  unchanged  by  the  stock  ;  and,  all  that 
is  of  consequence,  as  to  the  kind  of  stock,  is,  whe- 
ther it  be  such  as  will  last  long  and  supply  the  tree 
with  a  suitable  quantity  of  wood.  This  is  a  mat- 
ter of  great  importance  ;  for  though  peach  will 
grow  on  peach,  and  apple  on  apple,  the  trees  are 
not  nearly  so  vigorous  and  durable  as  if  the  peach 
were  put  on  the  plum  and  the  apple  on  the  crab. 
In  1800,  I  sent  several  trees  from  England  to 
Messrs.  James  and  Thomas  Paul,  at  Busleton, 
in  Pennsylvania.  There  was  a  JVectarine  amongst 
these.  It  is  well  known,  that,  in  1817,  there  had 
been  so  great  a  mortality  in  the  peach  orchards, 
that  they  had  become  almost  wholly  extinct.  At 
Busleton  there  had  been  as  great  a  mortality  as 
in  any  other  part.  Yet  I,  that  year,  saw  the 
JVectarine  tree  large,  sound  in  every  part,  fine 
and  flourishing-.    It  is  very  well  known,  that  the 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  185 

peach  trees  here  are  very  short-lived.  Six,  seven 
or  eight  years,  seem  to  be  the  duration  of  their  life. 
This  A  ectarine  had  stood  seventeen  years,  and  was 
likely  to  stand  twice  as  long  yet  to  come.  It  is 
now  growing  in  the  garden  of  the  late  Mr.  James 
Paul,  in  Lower  Dublin  Township  ;  and  there  any 
one  may  see  it  — It  is  clear  to  me,  therefore,  that 
the  short  life  of  the  peach-orchards  is  owing  to  the 
stock  being  fieach.  No  small  part  of  the  peach- 
trees  are  raised  from  the  stone.  Nothing  is  more 
frequent  than  to  see  a  farmer,  or  his  wife,  when 
he  or  she  has  eaten  a  good  peach,  to  go  and 
make  a  little  hole  andfiut  the  stone  in  the  ground, 
in  order  to  have  a  fieach  tree  of  the  same  sort ! 
Not  considering,  that  the  stone  never,  except  by 
mere  accident,  produces  fruit  of  the  same  quality 
as  that  within  which  it  was  contained,  any  more 
than  the  seed  of  a  carnation  produces  flowers  like 
those  from  which  they  proceded. — The  peaches 
in  America  are,  when  budded,  put  on  fieach- 
stocks ;  and  this,  I  think,  is  the  cause  of  their 
swift  decay.  They  should  be  put  on  filum-stocks ; 
for,  to  what  other  cause  are  we  to  ascribe  the 
long  life  and  vigorous  state  of  the  Nectarine  at 
Mr.  Paul's  ?  The  plum  is  a  closer  and  harder 
wood  than  the  peach.  The  peach-trees  are  de- 
stroyed by  a  worm,  or,  rather,  a  sort  of  ?naggot% 
that  eats  into  the  bark  at  the  stem.  The  insects 
do  not  like  the  plum  bark ;  and,  besides,  the 
plum  is  a  more  hardy  and  vigorous  tree  than  the 
peach,  and,  observe,  it  is  frequently,  and  most 
frequently,  the  feebleness,  or  sickliness,  of  the 
tree  that  creates  the  insects,  and  not  the  inscets 
that  create  the  feebleness  and  sickliness.  There 
are  thousands  of  peach  trees  in  England  and 
16* 


186  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

France  that  are  fifty  years  old,  and  that  are  still 
in  vigorous  fruitfulness.  There  is  a  good  deal  in 
climate,  to  be  sure;  but,  I  am  convinced,  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  in  the  stock. — Before  I  quit 
the  subject  of  stocks,  let  me  beg  the  reader  never, 
if  he  can  avoid  it,  to  make  use  of  suckers,  par- 
ticularly for  an  apple  or  pear-orchard,  which 
almost  necessarily  is  to  become  pasture.  Stocks 
formed  out  of  suckers  produce  suckers ;  and,  if 
the  ground  remain  in  grass  for  a  few  years,  there 
will  arise  a  young  wood  all  over  the  ground  ;  and 
this  wood,  if  not  torn  up  by  the  plough,  will,  in  a 
short  time,  destroy  the  trees,  and  will  in  still  less 
time,  deprive  them  of  their  fruitfulness.  Besides 
this,  suckers,  being  originally  excrecences,  and 
unnaturally  vigorous,  make  wood  too  fast, 
make  too  much  wood;  and,  where  this  is  the 
case,  the  fruit  is  scanty  in  quantity.  "Haste 
"  makes  waste"  in  most  cases ;  but,  perhaps,  in 
nothing  so  much  as  in  the  use  of  suckers  as 
stocks.  By  waiting  a  year  longer  and  bestowing 
a  little  care,  you  obtain  seedling  stocks;  and, 
really,  if  a  man  has  not  the  trifling  por- 
tion of  patience  and  industry  that  is  here  re- 
quired, he  is  unworthy  of  the  good  fruit 
and  the  abundant  crops,  which,  with  proper 
management,  are  sure,  in  this  country,  to  be  the 
reward  of  his  pains.  Look  at  England,  in  the 
spring!  There  you  see  fruit  trees  of  all  sorts 
covered  with  bloom  ;  and  from  all  of  it  there  some- 
times comes,  at  last,  not  a  single  fruit.  Here, 
in  this  favoured  country,  to  count  the  blossoms  is 
to  count  the  fruit !  The  way  to  show  our  grati- 
tude to  God  for  such  a  blessing,  is,  to  act  well 
our  part  in  turning  the  blessings  to  the  best 
account. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  187 

PLANTING. 

283.  I  am  not  to  speak  here  of  the  situation 
for  planting,  ot  the  aspect,  of  the  nature  of  the 
soil,  of  the  preparation  of  the  soil  ;  for  these 
have  all  been  described  in  Chapter  I,  Para- 
graph 20,  save  and  except,  that,  for  trees,  the 
ground  should  be  prepared  as  directed  for  Aspa- 
ragus, which  see  in  its  Alphabetical  place,  in 
Chapter  IV. 

284.  Before  the  reader  proceed  further,  he 
should  read  very  attentively  what  is  said  of  trans- 
planting' generally,  in  Chapter  III,  paragraph 
109  and  onwards.  He  will  there  perceive  the 
absolute  necessity  of  the  ground,  to  be  planted 
in,  being  made  perfectly,/?^,  and  that  no  clods, 
great  or  small,  ought  to  be  tumbled  in  about  the 
roots.  This  is  so  capital  a  point,  that  I  must 
request  the  reader  to  pay  particular  attention  to 
it.  To  remove  a  tree,  though  young,  is  an  opera- 
tion that  puts  the  vegetative  faculties  to  a  severe 
test ;  and,  therefore,  every  thing  should  be  done 
to  render  the  shock  as  little  injurious  as  possible. 

285.  The  tree  to  be  planted  should  be  as  young 
as  circumstances  will  allow.  The  season  is  just 
when  the  leaves  become  yellow,  or,  as  early  as 
possible  in  the  spring.  The  ground  being  pre- 
pared, and  the  tree  taken  up,  prune  the  roots 
with  a  sharp  knife  so  as  to  leave  none  more  than 
about  a  foot  long ;  and,  if  any  have  been  torn 
off  nearer  to  the  stem,  prune  the  part,  so  that 
no  bruizes  or  ragged  parts  remain.  Cut  off  all  the 
fibres  close  to  the  roots;  for,  they  never  live, 
and  they  mould,  and  do  great  injury.  If  cut 
off,  their  place  is  supplied  by  other  fibres  more 

Dig  the  hole  to  plant  in  three  times 


188  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

as  wide,  and  six  inches  deeper,  than  the  rooU 
actually  need  as  mere  room.  And  now,  besides 
the  fine  earth  generally,  have  some  good  mould 
sifted.  Lay  some  of  this  six  inches  deep  at  the 
bottom  of  the  hole.  Place  the  roots  upon  this  in 
their  natural  order,  and  hold  the  tree  perfectly 
upright,  while  you  put  more  sifted  earth  on  the 
roots.  Sway  the  tree  backward  and  forward  a 
little,  and  give  it  a  gentle  lift  and  shake,  so  that 
the  fine  earth  may  find  its  way  amongst  the  roots 
and  leave  not  the  smallest  cavity.  Every  root 
should  be  closely  touched  by  the  earth  in  every 
part.  When  you  have  covered  all  the  roots  with 
the  sifted  earth,  and  have  seen  that  your  tree 
stands  just  as  high  with  regard  to  the  level  of  the 
ground  as  it  did  in  the  place  where  it  before  stood, 
allowing  about  3  inches  for  sinking,  fill  up  the 
rest  of  the  hole  with  the  common  earth  of  the 
plat,  and  when  you  have  about  half  filled  it,  tread 
the  earth  that  you  put  in,  but  not  very  hard. 
Put  on  the  rest  of  the  earth,  and  leave  the  surface 
perfectly  smooth.  Do  not  water  by  any  means. 
Water,  poured  on,  in  this  case,  sinks  rapidly  down, 
and  makes  cavities  amongst  the  roots.  Lets  in 
air.  Mould  and  canker  follow  ;  and  great  injury 
iS  done. 

286.  If  the  tree  be  planted  in  the  fall,  as  soon 
as  the  leaf  begins  to  be  yellow  ;  that  is  to  say,  in 
October  early,  it  will  have  struck  out  new  roots 
to  the  length  of  some  inches  before  the  winter 
sets  in.  And  this  is  certainly  the  best  time  for 
doing  the  business.  But,  mind,  the  roots  should 
be  out  of  ground  as  short  a  time  as  possible  ;  and 
should  by  no  means  be  permitted  to  get  dryy  if 
you  can  avoid  it;  for,  though  some  trees  will  live 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  189 

after  having  been  a  long  while  out  of  ground,  the 
shorter  the  time  out  of  ground  the  sooner  the 
roots  strike  ;  and,  if  the  roots  should  get  dry  be- 
fore planting,  they  ought  to  be  soaked  in  water, 
rain  or  pond,  for  half  a  day  before  the  tree  be 
planted. 

287.  If  the  tree  be  for  an  orchard  it  must  be 
five  or  six  feet  high,  unless  cattle  are  to  be  kept 
out  for  two  or  three  years,  And,  in  this  case,  the 
head  of  the  tree  must  be  pruned  short,  to  prevent 
it  from  swaying  about  from  the  force  of  the  wind* 
Even  when  pruned,  it  will  be  exposed  to  be 
loosened  by  this  cause,  and  must  be  kept  steady 
by  a  stake  ;  but  it  must  not  be  fastened  to  a  stake, 
until  rain  has  come  to  settle  the  ground  ;  for,  such 
fastening  would  prevent  it  from  sinking  with  the 
earth.  The  earth  would  sink  from  it,  and  leave 
cavities  about  the  roots. 

288.  When  the  trees  are  short,  they  will  re- 
quire no  stakes.  They  may  be  planted  the  se- 
cond year  after  budding,  and  the  first  after  graft- 
ing ;  and  these  are  the  best  times.  If  planted  in 
the  fall,  the  tree  should  be  shortened  very  early 
in  the  spring,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  answer  the 
ends  to  be  pointed  out  more  particularly  when  we 
come  to  speak  of  pruning. 

289.  If  you  plant  in  the  spring,  it  should  be  as 
early  as  the  ground  will  bear  moving ;  only,  bear 
in  mxnd,  that  the  ground  must  always  be  dry  at 
top,  when  you  plant.  In  this  case,  the  new  roots 
will  strike  out  almost  immediately ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  buds  begin  to  swell,  shorten  the  head  of  the 
tree.  After  a  spring-planting  it  may  be  neces- 
sarv  to  guard  against  drought ;  and  the  best  pro- 
tection is  the  laying  of  small  stones  of  any  sort 


190  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

round  the  tree,  so  as  to  cover  the  area  of  a  circle 
of  three  feet  in  diameter,  of  which  circle  the  stem 
of  the  tree  is  the  centre.  This  will  keep  the 
ground  cooler  than  any  thing  else  that  you  can  put 
upon  it. 

290.  Astothe  distances,  at  which  trees  ought 
to  be  planted,  that  must  depend  on  the  sort  of 
tree,  and  on  other  circumstances.  It  will  be  seen 
by  looking  at  the  plan  of  the  garden  ( Plate  I  J, 
that  I  make  provision  for  70  trees,  and  for  a  row 
of  grafie  -vines  extending  the  length  of  two  of  the 
plats.  The  trees  will  have  a  space  of  14  feet 
square  each.  But,  in  orchards,  the  distances  for 
apples  and  pears  must  be  much  greater ;  other- 
wise the  trees  will  soon  run  their  branches  into, 
and  injure,  each  other. 

CULTIVATION. 

291.  The  Cultivation  of  fruit  trees  divides 
itself  into  two  distinct  parts ;  the  management  of 
the  tree  itself,  which  consists  of  pruning  and 
tying  ;  and  the  management  of  the  ground  where 
the  trees  grow,  which  consists  of  digging,  hoeing 
and  manuring.  The  management  of  the  tree 
itself  differs  with  the  sort  of  tree ;  and,  there- 
fore, I  shall  treat  of  the  management  of  each 
sort  under  its  own  particular  name.  But  the 
management  of  the  ground  where  trees  grow  is 
the  same  in  the  case  of  all  the  larger  trees  ;  and 
for  that  reason  I  shall  here  give  directions  con- 
cerning it. 

292.  In  the  first  place,  the  ground  is  always 
to  be  kept  clear  of  weeds ;  for  whatever  they 
take  is  just  so  much  taken  from  the  fruit,  either 
in  quantity,  or  in  quality,  or  in  both.    It  is  true 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  191 

that  very  fine  orchards  have  grass  covering  all 
the  ground  beneath  the  trees;  but  these  orchards 
would  be  still^er  if  the  ground  were  kept  clear 
from  all  plants  whatever  except  the  trees.  Such 
a  piece  of  ground  is,  at  once  an  orchard  and  a 
pasture;  what  is  lost  one  way  is,  probably,  gained 
the  other.  But,  if  we  come  to  fine  and  choice 
fruits,  there  can  be  nothing  that  can  grow  beneath 
to  balaace  against  the  injury  done  to  the  trees. 

293.  The  roots  of  trees  go  deep.  ;  but  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  their  nourishment  comes  from  the 
top-soil.  The  ground  should  be  loose  to  a  good 
depth,  which  is  the  certain  cause  of  constant 
moisture ;  but  trees  draw  downwards  as  well  as 
upwards,  and  draw  more  nourishment  in  the  for- 
mer than  in  the  latter  direction.  Vine-yards,  as 
Tull  observes,  must  always  be  tilled,  in  some  way 
or  other;  or  they  will  produce  nothing  of  value. 
He  adds,  that  Mr.  Evelyn  says,  that  "  when 
"  the  soil,  wherein  fruit  trees  are  planted,  is 
"  constantly  kept  in  tillage,  they  grow  up  to  an 
"  Orchard  in  half  the  time,  they  would  do,  if 
"  the  soil  were  not  tilled."  Therefore,  tillage  is 
useful ;  but,  it  were  better,  that  there  were  tillage 
without  under  crops  ;  for  these  crops  take  away 
a  great  part  of  the  strength  that  the  manure  and: 
tillage  bring. 

294.  Now,  then,  as  to  the  trees  in  my  garden  ; 
they  are  to  be  choice  peaches,  nectarines,  apricots, 
plums,  cherries,  and  grape  vines,  with  a  very  few 
apples  and  pears.  The  sorts  will  be  mentioned 
hereafter  in  the  Alphabetical  list  ;  but,  the 
tillage  for  all  except  the  grape  -vines,  is  the  same  ; 
and  the  nature  of  that  exception  will  be  particu- 
larly stated  under  the  name  of  grape. 


192  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

295.  It  was  observed  before,  that  the  grouna 
is  always  to  be  kept  clear  of  weeds.  From  the 
spring  to  the  fall  frequent  hoeing  all  the  ground 
over,  not  only  to  keep  away  weeds  but  to  keep 
the  ground  moist  in  hot  and  dry  weather,  taking 
care  never  to  hoe  but  when  the  ground  is  dry  at 
fiot.  This  hoeing  should  not  go  deeper  than  four 
or  five  inches ;  for  there  is  a  great  difference  be- 
tween trees  and  herbaceous  filants  as  to  the  renewal 
of  their  roots  respectively.  Cut  off  the  lateral 
roots  of  a  cabbage,  or  a  turnip,  of  a  wheat  or  a  rye 
or  an  Indian-corn  plant,  and  new  roots,  from  the 
parts  that  remain,  come  out  in  12  hours,  and  the 
operation,  by  multiplying  the  mouths  of  the  feed- 
ers of  the  plant,  gives  it  additional  force.  But,  the 
roots  of  a  tree  consist  of  wood,  more  or  less  hard: 
they  do  not  quickly  renew  themselves:  they  are 
of  a  permanent  nature:  and  they  must  not  be 
much  mutilated  during  the  time  that  the  sap  is  in 
the  flow. 

296.  Therefore,  the  ploughing  between  trees 
or  the  digging  between  trees  ought  to  take 
place  only  in  the  fall,  which  gives  time  for  a 
renewal,  or  new  supply,  of  roots  before  the  sap 
be  again  in  motion.  For  this  reason,  if  crops 
be  grown  under  trees  in  orchards,  they  should  be 
of  wheat,  rye,  winter-barley,  or  of  something 
that  does  not  demand  a  ploughing  of  the  ground 
in  the  spring.  In  the  garden,  dig  the  ground  well 
and  clean,  with  a  fork,  late  in  November.  Go 
close  to  the  stems  of  the  trees ;  but  do  not  bruize 
the  large  roots.  Clean  and  clear  all  well  close 
round  the  stem.  Make  the  ground  smooth  just 
there.  Ascertain  whether  there  be  insects  there 
of  any  sort.    And,  if  there  be,  take  care  to  de- 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  193 

stroy  them.  Pull,  er  scrape,  off  all  rough  bark 
at  the  bottom  of  the  stem.  If  you  even  fieel  off 
the  outside  bark  a  foot  or  two  up,  in  case  there  be 
insects,  it  will  be  the  better.  Wash  the  stems 
with  water,  in  which  tobacco  has  been  soaked ; 
and  do  this,  whether  you  find  insects  or  not. 
Put  the  tobacco  into  hot  water,  and  let  it  soak 
24  hours,  before  you  use  the  water.  This  will 
destroy,  or  drive  away,  all  insects. 

297\  But,  though,  for  the  purpose  of  removing 
all  harbour  for  insects  yon  make  the  ground  smooth 
just  round  the  stem  of  the  tree,  let  the  rest  of 
the  ground  lay  as  rough  as  you  can ;  for  the 
.rougher  it  lies  the  more  will  it  be  broken  by  the 
frost,  which  is  a  great  enricher  of  all  land.  When 
the  spring  comes,  and  the  ground  is  dry  at  the 
top,  give  the  whole  of  the  ground  a  good  deep 
hoeing,  which  will  make  it  level  and  smooth 
enough.  Then  go  on  again  hoeing  throughout  the 
summer,  and  watching  well  all  attempts  of  in- 
sects on  the  stems  and  bark  of  the  trees. 

298.  Diseases  of.  trees  are  various  in  their  kind ; 
but,  nine  times  out  of  ten  they  proceed  from  the 
root.  Insects  are  much  more  frequently  an  effect 
than  a  cause.  If  the  disease  proceed  from  blight, 
there  is  no  prevention,  except  that  which  is  sug- 
gested by  the  fact,  that  feeble  and  sickly  trees  are 
frequently  blighted  when  healthy  ones  are  not ; 
but,  when  the  insects  come,  they  add  greatly  to  the 
evil.  They  are  generally  produced  by  the  dis- 
ease, as  maggots  are  by  putrefaction.  The  ants 
are  the  only  active  insect  for  which  there  is  not  a 
cure;  and  I  know  of  no  means  of  destroying 
them,  but  finding  out  their  nests  and  pouring 
foiling  water  on  them.  A  line  dipped  in  tar  tied 
37 


194  AMERICAN  GARDENER* 

round  the  stem,  will  keep  them  from  climbing' 
the  tree  ;  but  they  are  still  alive.  As  to  the  di- 
minutive creatures  that  appear  as  specks  in  the 
bark,  the  best,  and  perhaps,  the  only  remedy 
against  the  species  of  disease  of  which  they  are  the 
symptom,  consists  of  good  plants,  good  planting  and 
good  tillage.  When  orchards  are  seized  with 
diseases  that  pervade  the  whole  of  the  trees,  or 
nearly  the  whole,  the  best  way  is  to  cut  them 
down  :  they  are  more  plague  than  profit,  and,  as 
long  as  they  exist,  they  are  a  source  of  nothing 
but  constantly-returning  disappointment  and 
mortification.  However,  as  there  are  persons 
who  have  a  delight  in  quackery,  who  are  never 
so  happy  as  when  they  have  some  specific  to  ap- 
ply, and  to  whom  rosy  cheeks  and  ruby  lips  are 
almost  an  eye-sore,  it  is  perhaps,  fortunate, 
that  the  vegetable  world  presents  them  with  pa- 
tients; and  thus,  even  in  the  cotton-blight  or 
canker,  we  soe  an  evil,  which  we  may  be  led  to 
hope  is  not  altogether  unaccompanied  with  good. 
299.  Having  in  the  former  parts  of  this  Chap- 
ter, treated  of  the  propagation,  planting,  and 
cultivation  of  all  fruit  trees  (the  grape  vine  only 
excepted)  it  would  remain  forme  merely  to  give 
a  List  of  the  several  fruits ;  to  speak  of  the  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  each  ;  and  of  the  mode  of  preser- 
ving them  ;  but  the  stocks  and  pruning  vary,  in 
-some  cases ;  and,  therefore,  as  I  go  along,  I  shall 
have  to  speak  of  them.  Before,  however,  I  enter 
on  this  Alphabetical  List,  let  me  observe,  that 
only  a  part  of  the  fruits  mentioned  in  it  are  pro- 
posed to  be  raised  in  the  garden  ;  and  that  the 
70  trees,  shown  in  the  Plate  I,  are  intended  to 
mark  the  places,,  and,  in  some  degree,  the  form. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  195 

o£  6  Apple  trees,  6  Apricots,  6  Cherries,  6  Nec- 
tarines, 30  Peaches,  6  Pears,  and  10  Plums  ;  and 
that  the  trelises,  on  the  Southern  sides  ot  Plate 
No,  8  and  9,  are  intended  to  mark  the  places  for 
4  Grape -Vines,  there  being  another  Plate  to  ex- 
plain more  fully  the  object  and  dimensions  of  this 
trelis  work. 

300.  APPLE. — Apples  are  usually  grafted  oii 
crab  stocks  (See  Paragraph  281 ;)  but,  when  you 
do  not  want  the  trees  to  grow  tall  and  large,  it 
is  better  to  raise  stocks  from  the  seed  of  some 
Apple  not  much  given  to  produce  large  wood. — 
Perhaps  the  Fall-Pippin  seed  may  be  as  good  as 
any.  When  you  have  planted  the  tree,  as  di- 
rected in  Paragraphs  283  to  289,  and  when  the 
time  comet  for  shortening  the  head,  cut  it  off  so 
as  to  leave  only  five  or  six  joints  or  buds.  These 
will  send  out  shoots,  which  will  become  limbs. — 
The  tree  will  be  what  they  call,  in  England,  a 
dwarf  standard  ;  and,  of  this  description  are  to 
be  all  the  70  trees  in  the  garden.  As  to  pruning 
see  Peach  ;  for,  the  pruning  of  all  these  dwarf 
standards  is  nearly  the  same. — The  sorts  of  Ap- 
ples are  numerous,  and  everybody  knows,  pretty 
well,  which  are  the  best.  In  my  garden  I  should 
only  have  six  apple  trees  ;  and,  therefore  they 
should  be  of  the  finest  for  the  season  at  which 
they  are  eaten.  The  earliest  apple  is  the  Juna- 
ting,  the  next  the  Summer  Pearmain.  Besides 
these  I  would  have  a.  Doctor-a/ifile,  a  Fall-Piji- 
fiin9  a  Newtown  Pififiin  and  a  Greening.  The 
quantity  would  not  be  very  large,  that  six  trees 
would  produce  ;  yet  it  would  be  considerable,  and 
the  quality  would  be  exquisitely  fine.  I  would 
Ter  too  great  a  number  of  fruit  to  remain 


196  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

on  the  tree  ;  and  I  would  be  bound  to  have  tin 
three  last-named  sorts  weighing,  on  an  average, 
12  ounces.  I  have  seen  a  Fall-Pippin  that 
weighed  a  pound. — To  preserve  apples,  in  their 
■whole  state,  observe  this,  that  frost  does  not 
much  injure  them  provided  they  be  kept  in  total 
darkness  during  the  frost  and  until  they  be  used, 
and  provided  they  be  perfectly  dry  when  put 
away.  If  put  together  in  large  parcels,  and  kept 
from  the  frost,  they  heat,  and  then  they  rot  ; 
and,  those  of  them  that  happen  not  to  rot,  lose 
their  flavour,  become  vapid,  and  are,  indeed  good 
for  little.  This  is  the  case  with  the  Newtown 
Pippins  that  are  sent  to  England,  which  are  half 
lost  by  rot,  while  the  remainder  are  poor  taste- 
less stuff,  very  little  better  than  the  English  ap- 
ples, the  far  greater  part  of  which  are  either 
sour  or  mawkish.  The  apples,  thus  sent,  have 
every  possible  disadvantage.  They  are  gathered 
carelessly  ;  tossed  into  baskets  and  tumbled  into 
barrels  at  once,  and  without  any  packing  stuff 
between  them  ;  the  barrels  are  flung  into  and  out 
of  wagons  ;  they  are  rolled  along  upon  pave- 
ments ;  they  are  put  in  the  hold,  or  between  the 
decks  of  the  ship  ;  and,  is  it  any  wonder,  that  a 
barrel  of  pomace,  instead  of  apples,  arrive  at 
Liverpool  or  London  ?  If,  instead  of  this  care- 
less work,  the  apples  were  gathered  ( a  week  be- 
jore  ripe  ',)  not  bruised  at  all  in  the  gathering  ; 
laid  in  the  sun,  on  boards  or  cloths,  three  days,  to 
let  the  watery  particles  evaporate  a  little;  put 
into  barrels  with  fine-cut  straw-chaff,  in  such  a 
way  as  that  no  apple  touched  another;  carefully 
carried  to  the  ship  and  put  on  board,  and  as  care- 
fully landed  ;  if  this  were  the  mode,  one  bavrel, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  197 

though  it  would  contain  only  half  the  quantity , 
would  sell  for  as  much  as,  upon  an  average,  ta- 
king in  loss  by  total  destruction,  twenty  barrels 
sell  for  now.  On  the  deck  is  the  best  part  of  the 
ship  for  apples ;  but,  if  managed  as  I  have  di- 
rected between  decks  would  do  very  well. — In  the 
keeping  of  apples  for  market,  or  for  home  use, 
the  same  precautions  ought  to  be  observed  as  to 
gathering  and  laying  out  to  dry  ;  and,  perhaps, 
to  pack  in  the  same  way  also  is  the  best  mode 
that  can  be  discovered.  Dried  Apples  is  an  arti- 
cle of  great  and  general  use.  Every  body  knows, 
that  the  apples  are  peeled,  cut  into  about  eight 
pieces,  the  core  taken  out,  and  the  pieces  put  in 
the  sun  till  they  become  dry  and  tough.  They 
are  then  put  by  in  bags,  or  boxes,  in  a  dry  place. 
But,  the  flesh  of  the  apple  does  not  change  its 
nature  in  the  drying  ;  and  therefore,  the  finest, 
and  not  the  coarsest,  apples  should  have  all  this 
trouble  bestowed  upon  them. 

301.  APRICOT.—This  is  a  very  delightful 
fruit.  It  comes  earlier  than  the  peach ;  and 
some  like  it  better.  It  is  a  hardier  tree,  bears  as 
well  as  the  peach,  and  the  green  fruit,  when  the 
size  of  a  hickory-nut,  makes  a  very  good  tart. — 
When  ripe,  or  nearly  ripe,  it  makes  abetter  pie 
than  the  peach  ;  and  the  tree,  when  well  raised, 
planted  and  cultivated,  will  last  a  century. — 
Apricots  are  budded  or  grafted  upon  plum  stocks, 
or  upon  stocks  raised  from  Apricot- stones.  They 
do  not  bear  so  soon  as  the  peach  by  one  year. — 
For  the  pruning  of  them  see  Peach. — There  are 
many  sorts  of  4pricot%,  some  come  earlier,  some 
are  larger,  and  some  finer  than  others.  It  may 
be  sufficient  to  n?me  the  Brussels,  the  More- 
17* 


198  AMERICAN  GARDENER, 

Park,  and  the  Turkey,  The  first  carries  moil 
fruit  as  to  number  ;  but,  the  others  are  larger 
and  of  finer  flavour.  Perhaps  two  trees  of  each 
of  these  sorts  would  be  the  most  judicious  selec- 
tion. I  have  heard,  that  the  Apricot  does  not  do 
in  this  country  !  That  is  to  say,  I  suppose,  it 
will  not  do  of  it*  own  accord,  like  a  peach  by 
having  the  stone  flung  ufion  the  ground,  which 
it  certainly  will  not ;  and  it  is  very  much  to  be 
commended  for  refusing  to  do  in  this  way.  But, 
properly  managed,  I  know  it  will  do,  for  I  nev- 
er tasted  finer  Apricots  than  I  have  in  America ; 
and,  indeed,  who  can  believe  that  it  will  not  do 
in  a  country,  where  there  are  no  blights  of  fruit 
trees  worth  speaking  of,  and  where  melons  ri- 
pen to  such  perfection  in  the  natural  ground  and 
almost  without  care  ? 

302.  BARBERRY.— -This  fruit  is  well  known. 
The  tree,  or  shrub,  on  which  it  grows  is  raised 
from  the  seed,  or  from  suckers,  or  layers.  Its 
place  ought  to  be  in  the  South  Border  ;  for,  the 
hot  sun  is  rather  against  its  fruit  growing  large. 

303.  CHERRY— Cherries  are  budded  or 
grafted  upon  stocks  raised  from  cherry-stones  of 
any  sort.  If  you  want  the  tree  tall  and  large, 
the  stock  should  come  from  the  small  black 
cherry  tree  that  grows  wild  in  the  woods.  If 
you  want  it  dwarf,  sow  the  stones  of  a  morello  or 
a  May-Duke.  The  sorts  of  cherries  are  very 
numerous;  but,  the  six  trees  for  my  garden 
should  be,  a  May-cherry,  a  May-duke,  a  black- 
heart,  a  white-heart,  and  two  bigeroons.  The 
four  former  are  well  known  in  America,  but  I 
never  saw  but  two  trees  of  the  last,  and  those  I 
sent  from  England  to  Busleton,  in  Pennsylvania 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  199 

in  the  year  1800.  They  are  now  growing  there, 
in  the  gardens  of  the  two  Messrs.  Paul's.  Cut- 
tings from  them  have  been  carried  and  used  as 
grafts  all  round  the  country.  During  the  few' 
days  that  I  was  at  Mr.  James  Paul's,  in  1817, 
several  persons  came  for  grafts  :  so  that  these 
trees  must  be  pretty  famous.  The  fruit  is  large, 
thin  skinned,  small  stone,  and  fine  colonr  and 
flavour,  and  the  tree  grows  freely  and  in  beau* 
tiful  form.  For  Pruning  see  Peach.  To  fire- 
serve  cherries  gather  them  without  bruizing  ; 
take  off  the  tails  ;  lay  them  in  the  sun  or  on  dry 
deal  boards ;  when  quite  dry,  put  them  by  in 
bags  in  a  dry  place.  They  form  a  variety  in  the 
tart-making  way. 

304.  CHESNUT.— This  is  an  inhabitant  of 
the  woods ;  and,  as  to  its  fruit  I  have  on  y  to 
say,  that  the  American  is  as  much  better  than 
the  Spanish  as  the  tree  is  a  finer  tree. — To  pre- 
serve  chesnuts,  so  as  to  have  them  to  sow  in  the 
spring,  or  to  eat  through  the  winter,  you  must 
put  them  inte  a  box,  or  barrel,  mixed  with,  and 
covered  over  by  ,fine  dry  sand.  If  there  be  mag- 
gots in  any  of  the  chesnuts,  they  will  work  up 
through  the  sand,  to  get  to  air ;  and,  thus,  you 
have  your  chesnuts  sweet  and  sound  and  fresh. — 
To  know  whether  chesnuts  will  grow,  toss  them 
into  water.    If  they  swim,  they  will  not  grow. 

305.  CRANBERRY.— -This  is  one  of  the  best 
its  in  the  world.  All  tarts  sink  out  of  sight, 
point  of   merit,  when  compared  with  that 

made  of  the  American  Cranberry.  There  is  a 
little  dark  red  thing,  about  as  big  as  a  large  pea, 
sent  to  England  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and 
js  called  a  Cranberry  ;  but,  it  does  not  resemble 


**IV\ 


200  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

the  American  in  taste  any  more  than  in  bulk.-- 
It  is  well  known  that  this  valuable  fruit  is,  in 
many  parts  of  this  country,  spread  over  the  low 
lands  in  great  profusion  ;  and  that  the  mere 
gathering  of  it  is  all  that  bountiful  nature  re- 
quires at  our  hands. — This  fruit  is  preserved  all 
the  year,  by  stewing  and  putting  into  jars,  and 
when  taken  thence  is  better  than  currant  jelly. — 
The  fruit,  in  its  whole  state,  laid  in  a  heap,  in  a 
dry  room,  will  keep  sound  and  perfectly  good  for 
six  months.  It  will  freeze  and  thaw  and  freeze 
and  thaw  again  without  receiving  any  injury.  It 
may,  if  you  choose,  be  kept  in  water  all  the 
while,  without  any  injury.  I  received  a  barrel 
in  England,  mixed  with  water,  as  good  and  as 
fresh  as  I  ever  tasted  at  New  York  or  Phila- 
delphia. 

306.  CURRANT.— There  are  red,  white  and 
black,  all  well  known.  Some  persons  like  one 
best,  and  some  another.  The  propagation  and  cul- 
tivation of  all  the  sorts  are  the  same.  The  currant 
"tree  is  propagated  from  cutti?igs ;  and  the  cut 
tings  are  treated  as  has  been  seen  in  Para- 
graph 276.  When  the  tree  has  stood  two  years 
in  the  Nursery,  plant  it  where  it  is  to  stand;  and 
take  care  that  it  has  only  one  stem.  Let  no  limbs 
come  out  to  grow  nearer  than  six  inches  of  the 
ground.  Prune  the  tree  every  year.  Keep  it 
thin  of  wood.  Keep  the  middle  open  and  the 
limbs'  extended;  and  when  these  get  to  about 
three  feet  in  length,  cut  off,  every  winter,  all  the 
last  year's  shoots.  If  you  do  not  attend  to  this, 
the  tree  will  be  nothing  but  a  great  bunch  of  twigs, 
and  you  will  have  very  little  fruit.  Cultivate 
apd  manure  the  ground  as  for  other  fruit  trees. 


AMERICAN  QARDENER.  301 

See  paragraphs  289  to  296.    In  this  country   th 
currant  requires  shade  in  summer.mexposedfre 
to  the  full  sun,  the  fruit  is  apt  to  beco  oo  sour.hld 
Plant  it  therefore,  in  the  erSB       eto 

307.  FIG. — There  areseveral  sorts  of  Figs, 
but  all  would  ripen  in  this  country.  The  only 
difficulty  must  be  to  protect  the  trees  in  winter, 
which  can  hardly  be  done  without  covering  pret^- 
ty  closely.  Figs  are  raised  either  from  cuttings 
or  layers,  which  are  treated  as  other  cuttings  and 
layers  are.  See  Paragraphs  275  and  277.  The 
fig  is  a  mawkish  thing  at  best ;  and,  amongst  such 
quantities  of  fine  fruit  as  this  country  produces, 
it  can,  from  mere  curiosity  only  be  thought  worth 
raising  at  all,  and  especially  at  great  trouble. 

308.  FILBERD.— -This  is  a  sort  of  JVut  oblong 
in  shape,  very  thin  in  the  shell,  and  in  flavour  as 
much  superior  to  the  common  nut  as  a  Water- 
melon is  to  a  pumpkin.  The  American  nut  tree  is 
a  draw/ shrub.  The  filberd  is  a  tall  one,  and  will, 
under  favourable  circumstances,  reach  the  height 
of  thirty  feet.  I  never  saw  any  Filberd  trees  in 
this  country,  except  those  that  I  sent  from  Eng- 
land in  1800.  They  were  six  in  number,  and 
they  are  now  growing  in  the  garden  of  the  late 
Mr.  James  Paul,  of  Lower  Dublin  Township,  in 
Philadelphia  county.  I  saw  them  in  1817,  when 
they  were,  I  should  suppose,  about  20  feet  high. 
They  had  always  borne,,  I  was  told,  very  large 
quantities,  never  failing.  Perhaps  five  or  six 
bushels  a  year,  measured  in  the  husk,  a  produce 
very  seldom  witnessed  in  England  ;  so  that,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  climate  is  extremely  favour- 
able to  them.  Indeed  to  what,  that  is  good  for 
man,  is  it  not  favourable  > — The  Filberd  is  pro* 


i02  AMERICAN  GARDENER, 

pagated  from  layers  or  from  suckers,  of  which  lat  ■ 
ter  it  sends  forth  great  abundance.  The  layers  are 
treated  like  other  layers  (See  Paragraph  276), 
and  they  very  soon  become  trees.  The  suckers 
are  also  treated  like  other  suckers.  (See  Para- 
graph 277);  but  layers  are  preferable,  for  the 
reasons  before  stated. — This  tree  cannot  be  pro- 
pagated from  seed  to  bear  Filberds,  The  seed, 
if  sown,  will  produce  trees  ;  but,  those  trees  will 
bear  poor  thick-shelled  nuts,  except  it  be  by 
mere  accident.  It  is  useful  to  know  how  to  fire- 
serve  the  fruit  ;  for  it  is  very  pleasant  to  have  it 
all  the  winter  long.  Always  let  the  filberds 
hang  on  the  tree  till  quite  ripe,  and  that  is  as- 
certained by  their  coming  out  of  the  husk  without 
any  effort.  They  are  then  brown,  and  the  butt 
ends  of  them  white.  Lay  them  in  the  sun  for  a 
day  to  dry  ;  then  put  them  in  a  box,  or  jar,  or 
barrel,  with  very  fine  dry  sand.  Four  times  as 
much  sand  as  filberds,  and  put  them  in  any  dry 
place.  Here  they  will  keep  well  till  April  or 
May;  and,  perhaps,  longer.  This  is  better  a 
great  deal  than  putting  them,  as  they  do  in  Eng- 
land into  jars,  and  the  jars  into  a  cellar;  or  if  they  do 
not  mould  in  that  situation,  they  lose  much  of  their 
sweetness  in  a  few  months. — The  burning  sun  is 
apt  to  scorch  up  the  leaves  of  the  Filberd  tree. 
I  would,  therefore,  plant  a  row  of  them  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  South  fence.  Ten  trees  at  eight 
feet  apart  might  be  enough. — The  Filberd  will 
do  very  well  under  the  shade  of  lofty  trees,  if  those 
trees  do  not  stand  too  thick.  And  it  is  by  no 
means  an  ugly  shrub,  while  the  wood  of  it  is,  as 
well  as  the  nut  wood,  which  is,  in  England,  called 
fntzle,  and  is  a  very  good   wood.    In  the  oak 


AMERICAN  GARDENER,  20: 

woods  there,  hazle  is  very  frequently  the  under' 
wood;  and  it  makes%mall  hoops,  and  is  applied 
to  various  other  purposes.  I  cannot  dismiss  this 
article  without  exhorting  the  American  farmer 
to  provide  himself  with  some  of  this  sort  of  tree, 
which,  when  small,  is  easily  conveyed  to  any 
distance  in  winter,  and  got  ready  to  plant  out  in 
the  spring.  Those  that  are  growing  at  Mr. 
Paul's  were  dug  up,  in  England,  in  January, 
shipped  to  New  York,  carried  on  the  top  of  the 
stage,  in  the  dead  of  winter  to  Busleton,  kept  in 
a  cellar  till  spring,  and  then  planted  out.  These 
werethe  first  trees  of  the  kind,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn,  that  ever  found  their  way  to 
this  country.  I  hear  that  Mr.  Stephen  Ger- 
rard  takes  to  himself  the  act  of  first  introduc- 
tion, from  France.  But,  I  must  deny  him  this. 
He,  I  am  told,  brought  his  trees  several  years 
later  than  I  sent  mine. 

309.  GOOSEBERRY.— Various  are  the  sorts, 
and  no  one  that  is  not  good.  The  shrub  is  pro- 
pagated precisely  like  that  of  the  currant.  I 
cannot  tell  the  cause  that  it  is  so  little  cultivated 
in  America.  I  should  think  (though  I  am  by  no 
means  sure  of  the  fact)  that  it  would  do  very  well 
under  the  shade  of  a  South  Fence.  However, 
as  far  as  the  fruit  is  useful  in  its  green  state,for  tarts 
the  Rhubarb  supplies  its  place  very  well.  The  fruit 
is  excellent  when  well  raised.  They  have  goose- 
berries in  England  nearlv  as  large  as  pigeon's 
eggs,  and  the  crops  that  the  trees  bear  are  pro- 
digious. 

310.  GRAPE. — This  is  a  very  important  arti- 
cle ;  and,  before  I  proceed  to  treat  of  the  culture 
of  the  grape-vine,  I  must  notice  the  astonishing 


204  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

circumstance,  that  that  culture  should  be  almost 
wholly  unknown  in  this  coiifitry,  of  fine  sun.  I 
have  asked  the  reason  of  this,  seeing  that  the 
fruit  is  so  good,  the  crop  so  certain,  and  the  cul- 
ture so  easy.  The  only  answer  that  I  have  re- 
ceived is,  that  the  rose-bug  destroys  the  fruit  — 
Now,  this  I  know,  that  I  had  a  grape  vine  in  my 
court-yard  at  Philadelphia  ;  that  it  bore  nothing 
the  first  year  ;  that  I  made  an  arched  trelis  for  it 
to  run  over  ;  and  that  I  had  hundreds  of  pounds 
of  fine  grapes  hanging  down  in  large  bunches. — 
Yes,  I  am  told,  but  this  was  in  a  city  ;  and 
amongst  houses^  and  there  the  grapes  do  very 
well.  Then,  1799,  I  saw,  at  Spring  Mills,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Shuylkill,  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
Vineyard  of  Mr.  Le  Gauy  which  covered  about 
two  acres  of  ground,  and  the  vines  of  which  were 
loaded  with  fine  grapes  of,  at  least  twenty 
different  sorts.  The  vineyard  was  on  the  side 
of  a  little  hill ;  on  the  top  of  the  hill  was  a  corn- 
Aeld,  and  in  the  front  of  it,  across  a  little  valley, 
and  on  the  side  of  another  little  hill,  was  a  wood 
of  lofty  trees ;  the  country  in  general,  being  very 
much  covered  with  woods.  Mr.  Le  Gau  made 
wine  from  this  Vineyard.  The  vines  were  plant- 
ed at  about  four  feet  apart,  grew  upright,  and 
were  tied  to  sticks  about  five  feet  high,  after  the 
manner  of  some,  at  least,  of  the  vineyards  of 
France. — Now,  are  not  these  facts  alone  decisive 
in  the  negative  of  the  proposition,  that  there  is  a 
generally  prevalent  obstacle  to  the  growing  of 
grapes  in  this  country  ? — Mr.  Hulme,  in  his 
Journal  to  the  West  (See  my  Year's  Residence, 
Paragraph  892,)  gives  an  account  of  the  Vine- 
yards and  of  the  nvine  made,  at  V&vay,  on  the. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER-  $0$ 

Ohio.  He  says,  that,  that  year,  about  five 
thousand  gallons  of  wine  were  made  ;  and,  he 
observes,  what  more  can  be  wanted  for  the  grape- 
vine, than  rich  land  and  hot  sun. — Besides,  is  not 
the  grape-vine  a  native  here  ?  There  are  many 
different  sorts  of  grapes,  that  grow  in  the  woods, 
climb  the  trees,  cover  some  of  them  over,  and 
bear  and  ripen  their  fruit.  How  often  do  we  meet 
with  a  vine,  in  the  autumn,  with  grapes,  called 
chicken  grapes,  hanigng  no  it  from  every  bough 
of  an  oak  or  some  other  timber-tree  !  This  grape 
resembles,  as  nearly  as  possible,  what  is,  in  Eng- 
land, called  the  Black  Cluster;  and,  unquestion- 
ably only  wants  cultivation  to  give  it  as  good  a 
flavour.  Does  the  Rose  Bug  prevent  these  vines 
from  bearing,  or  from  ripening  their  fruit  ?  Ta- 
king it  for  granted,  then,  that  this  obstacle  is 
imaginary \  rather  than  real,  I  shall  now  proceed 
to  speak  of  the  propagation  and  cultivation  of  the 
grape-vine  in  the  open  ground  of  a  garden  ;  and, 
in  doing  this,  I  shall  have  frequently  to  refer  to 
Plate  III. — The  grape  vine  is  raised  from  cut- 
tings, or  from  layers.  As  to  the  first,  you  cut  off, 
as  early  as  the  ground  is  open  in  the  spring,  a 
piece  of  the  last  year's  wood  ;  that  is  to  say,  a 
piece  of  a  shoot,  which  grew  during  the  last  sum- 
mer. This  cutting  should,  if  convenient,  have 
an  inch  or  two  of  the  former  year's  wood  at  the 
bottom  of  it ;  but,  this  is  by  no  means  absolute- 
ly necessary.  The  cutting  should  have  four  or% 
Jive  buds  or  joints.  Make  the  ground  rich 
move  it  deep,  and  make  it  fine.  Then  put  in  the 
cutting  with  a  setting-stick,  leaving  only  two 
buds,  or  joints,  above  ground  ;  fasten  the  cut- 
ting well  in  the  grouQd  ;  and,  then,  as  to  keeping 
18 


206       _  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

it  cool  and  moist,  see  cuttings*  in  Paragraph  275„ 
Layers  from  grape-vines  are  obtained  with  great 
ease.  You  have  only  to  lay  a  shoot,  or  limb,  how- 
ever young  or  old,  upon  the  ground,  and  cover 
any  part  of  it  with  earth,  it  will  strike  out  roots 
the  first  summer,  and  will  become  a  vine,  to  be 
carried  and  planted  in  any  other  place.  But,  ob- 
serve, vines  do  not  transplant  well.  For  this  rea 
son,  both  cuttings  and  layers,  if  intended  to  be 
removed,  are  usually  set*  or  layed*  in  flower-pots 
out  of  which  they  are  turned,  with  the  ball  of 
earth  along  with  them,  into  the  earth  where  they 
are  intended  to  grow  and  produce  their  fruit. — I 
have  now  to  speak  more  particularly  of  the  vines 
for  my  garden.  Plate  I.  page  represents,  or 
at  least,  I  mean  it  to  represent,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Plats  No.  8  and  No.  9,  two  trelis  works 
for  vines.  These  are  to  be  Jive  feet  high*  and 
are  to  consist  of  two  rows  of  little  upright  bars 
two  inches  and  a  half  by  two  inches,  put  two  feet 
into  the  ground,  and  made  of  Locust,  and  then 
they  will,  as  you  well  know,  last  for  ever*  with- 
out paint  and  without  any  kind  of  trouble.  Now, 
then,  bear  in  mind,  that  each  of  these  Plats  is, 
from  East  to  West,  70  feet  long.  Each  will, 
therefore,  take,  four  vines,  allowing  to  each 
vine,  an  extent  of  16  feet,  and  something  more  for 
overrunning  branches, — Look,  now  at  Plate  IJJ, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER. 


208  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

which  exhibits,  in  all  its  dimensions,  the  cutting 
become  a  plant,  Fig.  1.    The  first  year  of  its  be- 
ing a  vine  after  the  leaves  are  off  and  before  pru- 
ning, Fig.  2.    The  same  year's  vine  pruned  in 
ivifiter,  Fig.  3.    The  vine,  in  the  next  summer, 
with  shoots,  leaves,  and  grapes,  Fig.  4.     Hav- 
ing measured  your  distances,  put  in  a  cutting  at 
each  place  where  there  is  to  be  a  vine.    You  are 
to  leave  two  joints  or  buds  out  of  ground.    From 
these  will  come  two  shoots  perhaps ;  and,  if  two 
come,  rub  off  the   top    one   and  leave  the  bot- 
tom one,  and,  in  winter,  cut  off  the  bit  of  dead 
wood  which  will,  in  this  case,  stand  above  the 
bottom  shoot.    Choose,  however,  the  upper  one 
to  remain,  if  the  lower  one  be  very  weak.    Or, 
a  better  way  is,  to  put  in  two  or  three  cuttings 
within  an  inch  or  two  of  each  other,  leaving  only 
One  bud  to  each  out  of  ground,  and  taking  away, 
in  the  fall,  the  cuttings  that  send  up  the  weakest 
shoots.    The  •bject  is  to  get  one  good  shoot,  com- 
ing out  as  near  to  the  ground  as   possible.— This 
shoot  you  tie  to  an  upright  stick,  letting  it  grow 
its  full  length.    When   winter  comes,  cut  this 
shoot  down  to  the  bud  nearest  to  the  ground.— 
The  next  year  another,    and  a  much  stronger 
shoot  will  come  out ;  and,  when   the  leaves  are 
off,  in  the  fall,  this  shoot  will  be  eight  or  ten  feet 
long,  having    been  tied  to  a  stake  as  it  rose , 
and  will  present  what    is  described  in  Fig.  1, 
Plate  III.    You  must  make  your  trelis  ;  that  is, 
put  in  your  upright  Locust-bars  to  tie  the  next 
summer's  shoots  to.    You  will  want  (See  Fig.  2.) 
eight  shoots  to  come  out  to  run   horizontally,  to 
be  tied  to  these  bars.    You  must  now,  then,  in 
winter*  cut  off  your  vine,  leaving  eight    buds  or 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  209 

joints.  You  see  there  is  a  mark  for  this  cut,  at  a, 
fig.  1.  During  summer  eight  shoots  will  come, 
and,  as  they  proceed  on,  they  must  be  tied  with 
matting,  or  something  soft,  to  the  bars.  The 
whole  vine,  both  ways  included,  is  supposed  to 
go  16  feet ;  but,  if  your  tillage  be  good,  it  will  go 
much  further,  and  then  the  ends  must  be  cut  off 
in  winter. — Now,  then,  vinter  presents  you  your 
vine  as  in  Jig.  2-. ;  and  now  you  must  prune, 
which  is  the  all-important  part  of  the  business. — 
Observe,  and  bear  in  mind,  that  little  or  no  fruit 
ever  comes  on  a  grape-vine,  except  on  young 
shoots  that  come  out  of  wood  of  the  last  year. — 
All  the  four  last  year's  shoots  that  you  fin&m  Jig.  2, 
would  send  out  bearers ;  but  if  you  suffer  that 
you  will  have  a  great  parcel  of  small  wood,  and 
little  or  no  fruit  next  year.  Therefore,  cut  off  4 
of  the  last  year's  shoots,  as  at  b.  (Fig.  3.  J  leav- 
ing only  one  bud.  The  four  other  shoots  will 
send  out  a  shoot  from  every  one, of  their  buds,  and 
if  the  vine  be  strong,  there  will  be  two  bunches 
of  grafies  on  each  of  these  young  shoots  ;  and, 
as  the  last  year's  shoots  are  supposed  to  be  each 
8  feet  long,  and  as  there  generally  is  a  bud  at,  or 
about,  every  half  foot,  every  last  year's  shoot 
will  produce  32  bunches  of  grapes;  every  vine 
128  bunches  ;  and  the  8  vines  512;  and,  possibly, 
nay,  probably,  so  many  pounds  of  grapes !  Is 
this  incredible  ?  Take,  then,  this  well  known 
fact,  that  there  is  a  grape  vine,  a  single  vine,  with 
only  one  stem,  in  the  King  of  England's  Gar- 
dens at  his  palace  of  Hampton  Court,  which  has, 
for,  perhaps,  half  a  century,  produced  on  an 
average,  annually,  a  ton  of  grapes  ;  that  is  to 
sav  2,240  pounds,  Avoirdupois  weight.  That 
18* 


210  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

vine  covers  a  space  of  about  40  feet  in  length  and 
20  in  breadth.  And  your  two  trelises,  being,  to- 
gether, 128  feet  long,  and  4  deep,  would  form  a 
space  of  more  than  half  the  dimensions  of  the 
vine  of  Hampton  Court.  However,  suppose  you 
have  only  a  fifth  part  of  what  you  might  have, 
a  hundred  bunches  of  grapes  are  worth  a  great  deal 
more  than  the  annual  trouble,  which  is,  indeed, 
very  little.  Fig.  4  shows  a  vine  in  summer. — You 
see  the  four  shoots  bearing ',  and  four  other  shoots 
coming  on  for  the  next  year,  from  the  butts  left 
at  the  winter  pruning,  as  at  b.  These  four  lat- 
ter you  are  to  tie  to  the  bars  as  they  advance  on 
during  the  summer. — When  winter  comes  again, 
you  are  to  cut  off  the  four  shoots  that  sent  out 
the  bearers  during  the  summer,  and  leave  the 
four  that  grew  out  of  the  butts.  Cut  the  four 
its  shoote  that  have  borne,  so  as  to  leave  but  one 
bud  at  the  butt.  And  they  will  then  be  sending 
out  wood,  while  the  other  four  will  be  sending 
out  fruit.  And  thus  you  go  on  year  after  year 
or  your  life  ;  for,  as  to  the  vine,  it  will,  if  well 
treated,  outlive  you  and  your  children  to  the 
third  and  even  thirtieth  generation.  I  think 
they  say,  that  the  vine  at  Hampton  Court,  was 
planted  in  the  reign  of  King  William.  During  the 
summer  there  are  two  things  to  be  observed,  as 
to  pruning.  Each  of  the  last  year's  shoots  has  32 
buds,  and,  of  course,  it  sends  out  32  shoots  with 
the  grapes  on  them,  for  the  grapes  come  out  of 
the  2  first  fair  buds  of  these  shoots.  So  that  here 
would  be  an  enormous  quantity  of  wood,  if  it 
were  all  left  till  the  end  of  summer.  But,  this 
must  not  be.  When  the  grapes  get  as  big  as 
fieas,  cut  off  the  green  shoots  that  bear  them,  at 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  211 

two  buds  distance  from  the  fruit.  This  is  neces- 
sary in  order  to  clear  the  vine  of  confusion  of 
branches,  and  also  to  keep  the  sap  back  for  the 
supply  of  the  fruit.  These  new  shoots,  that 
have  the  bunches  on,  must  be  kept  tied  to  the 
trelis,  or  else  the  wind  would  tear  them  off — 
The  other  thing  is,  to  take  care  to  keep  nicely 
tied  to  the  bars  the  shoots  that  are  to  send  forth 
bearers  the  next  year  ;  and,  if  you  observe  any 
little  side  shoots  coming  out  of  them  to  crop  these 
off  as  soon  as  they  appear,  leaving  nothing  but 
the  clear,  clean  shoot.  It  may  be  remarked,  that 
the  butt,  as  at  6,  when  it  is  cut  off  the  next  time, 
will  be  longer  by  a  bud.  That  will  be  so  ;  but, 
by  the  third  year  the  vine  will  be  so  strong,  that 
you  may  safely  cut  the  shoots  back  to  within  six 
inches  of  the  main  trunk,  leaving  the  new  shoots 
to  come  out  of  it  where  they  will ;  taking  care  to 
let  but  one  grow  for  the  summer.  If  shoots  start 
out  of  the  main  trunk  irregularly,  rub  them  off' 
as  soon  as  they  appear,  and  never  suffer  your 
vine  to  have  any  more  than  its  regular  number  of 
shoots.  As  to  cultivation  of  the  ground^  the 
ground  should  not  only  be  deeply  dug  in  the  fall, 
but,  with  a  fork,  two  or  three  times  during  the 
summer.  They  plough  between  them  in  Langue- 
doc,  as  we  do  between  the  Indian  Corn.  The 
ground  should  be  manured  every  fall,  with  good 
rich  manure.  Blood  of  any  kind  is  excellent  for 
vines.  But,  in  a  word,  the  tillage  and  the  manu- 
ring cannot  be  too  good.  All  that  now  remains  is 
to  speak  of  the  sorts  of  grafies.  The  climate  of 
this  country  will  ripen  anv  sort  of  grape.  But,  it 
may  be  as  well  to  have  some  that  come  early. — 
The  Black  July  grape,  as  it  is  called  in  England, 


212  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

or,  as  it  is  called  in  France,  the  Noir  Hatif  is 
the  earliest  of  all.  I  would  have  this  for  one  of 
my  eight  vines ;  and,  for  the  other  seven  I  would 
have,  the  Chasselas  ;  the  Burgundy  ;  the  Black 
Muscadine  ;  the  Black  Frontinac ;  the  Red 
Frontinac  ;  the  White  Sweet  Water ;  and  the 
Black  Hamburgh,  which  is  the  sort  of  the 
Hampton-Court  Vine. — In  cases  where  grapes 
are  to  be  grown  against  houses,  or  to  be  trained 
over  bowers,  the  firincifile  is  the  same,  though 
the  form  may  differ.  If  against  the  side  of  a 
house  the  main  stem  of  the  vine,  might  by  de- 
grees, be  made  to  go,  I  dare  say,  a  hundred  jeet 
high.  Supppose  40  feet.  In  that  case,  it  would 
be  forty  instead  of  four;  but,  the  side  shoots  or 
alternate  bearing  limbs,  would  still  come  out  in 
the  same  manner.  The  stem,  or  side  limbs,  may 
•with  the  greatest  ease,  be  made  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  windows,  or  to  any  interruptions  of 
smoothness  on  the  surface.  If  the  side  of  the 
house,  or  place,  be  not  very  high,  not  more  than 
15  or  20  feet;  the  best  way  is  to  plant  the  vine  in 
the  middle  of  your  space,  and,  instead  of  train- 
ing an  upright  stem,  take  the  two  lowest  shoots 
and  lead  them  along,  one  from  each  side  of  the 
plant,  to  become  stems,  to  lie  along  withing  six 
inches  or  a  foot  of  the,  ground.  These  will,  of 
course,  send  out  shoots,  which  you  will  train  up- 
right against  the  building,  and  which  you  will 
cut  out  alternately,  as  directed  in  the  other  case. 
311.  HUCKLEBERRY.— It  is  well  known 
that  it  grows  wild  in  great  abundance,  in  many 
parts,  and  especially  in  Long  Island,  where  it 
give  rise  to  a  holiday  called  Huckleberry  Mon- 
day.   It  is  a  very  good  fruit  for  tarts  mixe,d  with 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  21 S 

Currants  ;  and  by  no  means  bad  to  eat  in  its  raw 
state. 

312.  MADEIRA  NUT.— See  Walnut. 

313.  MEDLAR.  A  very  poor  thing  indeed. 
The  Medlar  is  propagated  by  grafting  on  crab- 
stocks,  or  pear-stocks.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  espe- 
cially in  this  ceuntry,  a  thing  not  worthy  of  a 
place  in  a  garden.  At  best,  it  is  only  one  degree 
better  than  a  rotten  ajijile. 

314.  MELON.—See  Melon  in  Chapter  IV. 

315.  MULBERRY.— This  tree  is  raised  from 
cuttings  or  from  layers.  See  Paragraphs  275  and 
277.  The  U  kite  Mulberry ,  which  is  the  finest, 
and  which  the  Silk  worm  feeds  on,  grows  wild, 
and  bears  well,  at  two  miles  from  the  spot  where 
I  am  now  writing. 

316.  NECTARINE.— As  to  propagation, 
planting  and  cultivation,  the  Nectarine  is,  in  all 
respects  the  same  as  the  fieac/i,  which,  there- 
fore, see.  It  is  certainly  a  finer  fruit,  especi- 
ally the  Violet  Nectarine  ;  but,  it  is  not  grown, 
or,  but  very  little  in  America.  I  cannot  believe, 
that  there  is  any  insurmountable  obstacle  in  the 
way.  It  is  grown  in  England  very  well.  The 
White  French  would  certainly  do  here ;  and  it  is 
the  most  beautiful  of  fruit,  and  a  greater  bearer, 
hough  not  so  fine  in  flavour  as  the  Violet.  The 
Newington,  the  Roman  are  by  no  means  so  good, 
I  would  have  in  the  Garden  three  trees  of  each 
of  the  two  former. 

317.  NUT. — Grows  wild.  Not  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  Garden.  Is  propagated,  and  the 
fruit  preserved,  like  Filberd,  which  see. 

318.  PEACH.— The  peach  being  the  princi- 
pal tree  for  the  garden,  I  shall  under  this  head* 


214  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

give  directions  for  pruning  and  forming  the 
tree. — Peaches  are  propagated  by  budding.  The 
stock  should  be  of  plum,  for  the  reasons  given 
in  Paragraph  281. — The  tree  is  to  be  planted, 
agreeably  to  the  directions  in  Paragraphs  282  to 
288.  And  now  for  the  pruning  and  forming  the 
tree.  Look  at  Plate  IV.  Jig  2,  and  Jig  3. 
The  first  is  a  peach  tree  such  as  I  would  have  it 
at  four  or  live  years  old;  the  last  is  a  peach  tree 
such  as  we  generally  see  at  that  age.  The  prac- 
tice is  to  plant  the  tree,  and  to  let  it  grow  in  its 
own  way.  The  consequence  is,  that,  in  a  few 
years,  it  runs  up  to  a  long  naked  stem  with  two 
or  three  long  naked  limbs,  having  some  little 
weak  boughs  at  the  tops,  and,  the  tree  being  top- 
heavy,  is,  nineteen  times  out  of  twenty,  leaning 
on  one  side  ;  and,  it  presents,  altogether,  a  figure 
by  no  means  handsome  in  itself  or  creditable  to 
the  owner. — This  is  fig  3. — Now,  to  have  Jig  2, 
the  following  is  the  way. — The  tree  should,  in 
the  first  place,  be  budded  very  near  to  the  ground. 
-After  it  be  planted,  cut  it  down  to  within  a  foot 
and  a  half  of  the  ground,  and  always  cut  sloping 
close  to  a  bud.  In  this  foot  and  a  half,  there 
will  be  many  buds,  and  they  will,  the  first  sum- 
mer, send  out  many  shoots.  Now,  when  shoots 
begin  to  appear,  rub  them  all  off  but  three,  leave 
the  top  one  and  one  on  each  side,  at  suitable 
distance  lower  down.  These  will  in  time  become 
limbs.  The  next  year,  top  the  upright  shoot 
(that  came  out  of  the  top  bud)  again  so  as  to 
bring  out  other  horizontal  limbs,  pointing  in  a 
different  direction  from  those  that  come  out  the 
last  year.  Thus  the  tree  will  get  a  spread. 
After  this,  you  must  keep,  down  the  aspiring 


AMERICAN  GARDENER. 


215 


216  AMERICAN  GARDENEft. 

shoots ;  and,  every  winter  cut  out  some  of  the 
weak  wood,  that  the  tree  may  not  be  overbur- 
dened with  wood.  If,  in  time,  the  tree  be  getting 
thin  of  bearing  wood  towards  the  truuk,  cut  some 
of  the  limbs  back,  and  they  will  then  send  out 
many  shoots,  and  fill  up  the  naked  places.  The 
lowest  limb  of  the  tree,  should  come  out  of  the 
trunk  at  not  more  than  9  or  10  inches  from  the 
ground.  The  greater  part  of  the  tree  will  be 
within  the  reach  of  a  man  from  the  ground  ; 
and  a  short  step-ladder  reaches  the  rest. — By 
this  management  the  tree  is  always  in  a  state  of 
full  bearing.  Always  young.  To  talk  of  a  tree's 
being  worn  out  is  nonsense.  But,  without  prun- 
ing it  will  soon  wear  out.  It  is  the  pruning  that 
makes  it  always  young.  In  the  "  Ecloe  du 
vardin  Potager"  by  Monsieur  De  Combles, 
there  is  an  account  of  peach  trees  in  full  bearing 
at  fifty  years  old.  And,  little  do  people  here 
imagine  to  what  a  distance  a  peach  tree  will,  if 
properly  managed,  extend.  Mr.  de  Combles 
speaks  of  numerous  peach  trees  extending  to 
more  than  fifty  feet  in  length  on  the  trelis,  and 
twelve  feet  in  breadth,  or  heigh th,  and  in  full  bear- 
ing in  every  part.  Here  is  a  space  of  six  hun- 
derd  square  feet,  and,  in  case  of  a  good  crop, 
four  peaches  at  least  in  every  square  foot,  mak- 
ing, in  the  whole,  2,400  peaches,  which  would 
fill  little  short  of  ten  or  twelve  bushels.  This  is 
to  be  seen  any  year  at  Montreuil  in  France. 
To  be  sure,  these  trees  are  tied  to  trelises  and 
have  walls  at  their  back  ;  but  this  climate  re- 
quires neither  ;  and,  surely,  fine  trees  and  fine 
fruit  and  large  crops  may  be  had  in  a  country 
where  blights  are  almost  unknown,  and  where 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  W 

the  young  fruit  is  never  cut  off  by  frosts,  as  it  is 
in  England  and  France.  To  preserve  the  young 
fruit  in  those  countries,  people  are  compelled  to 
cover  the  trees  by  some  means  or  other,  in  March 
and  April.  Here  there  needs  no  such  thing. 
When  you  see  the  blossom,  you  know  that  the 
fruit  is  to  follow.  By  looking  at  the  Plan  of  the 
Garden,  Plate  I,  you  will  see,  that  the  Plats  No. 
8  and  9,  contain  30 trees  and  the  two  vine  trelises. 
The  Plats  are,  you  will  remember,  70  feet  long 
and  56  wide.  Of  course,  putting  5  trees  one  way 
and  4  the  other,  each  tree  has  a  space  of  14  feet, 
so  that  the  branches  may  extend  horisontally  7 
feet  from  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  before  they  meet. 
In  these  two  Plats  14  feet  wide  is  left  «lear  for 
the  grape-vines. — These  30  Peach-trees,  proper- 
ly managed,  would  yield  more  fruit,  even  in  bulk, 
than  a  large  orchard  in  the  common  way ;  and 
ten  times  as  much  in  point  of  value ;  the  size  as 
well  as  the  flavour  of  the  fruit  are  greatly  improv- 
ed by  this  mode  of  culture. — However,  the  sort 
is  of  very  great  consequence.  It  is  curious 
enough,  that  people  in  general  think  little  of  the 
sort  in  the  case  of  fieaches,  though  they  are  so 
choice  in  the  case  of  ajifiles.  A  peach  is  z,fieack 
it  seems,  though  I  know  of  no  apples  between 
which  there  is  more  difference  than  there  is 
between  different  sorts  of  peaches,  some  of  which 
melt  in  the  mouth,  while  others  are  little  better 
than  a  white  turnip. — The  sort  is,  then,  a  matter 
of  the  first  importance ;  and  though  the  sorts  are 
very  numerous,  the  thirty  trees  that  I  would  have 
should  be  as  follows : — 1  Violette  Hailve,  6  Early 
Montaubon,  1  Vanguard,  6  Royal  George,  6 
Grosse  Mignonne,  4  Early  JVoblesse,  3  Gallande, 
\9 


m  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

2  Bellgarde,  2  Late  Noblesse.  These  are  all 
to  be  had  of  Mr.  Prince,  of  Flushing,  i»  this 
island,  and,  as  to  his  word,  every  body  knows 
that  it  may  be  safely  relied  on.  What  is  the 
trifling  expence  of  30  trees  !  And  when  you  once 
have  them,  you  propagate  from  them  for  your 
life.  Even  for  the  feeding  of  hogs,  a  gallon  of 
peaches  of  either  of  the  above  sorts  is  worth 
twenty  gallons  of  the  poor  pale,  tastless  things 
that  we  see  brought  to  market. — As  to  dried 
peaches,  every  body  knows  that  they  are  man- 
aged as  dried  apples  are  ;  only  that  they  must  be 
gathered  for  this  purpose  before  they  be  soft. 

319.  PEAR. — Pears  are  grafted  on  fiear*stock&, 
on  quince-stocks,  or  on  those  of  the  white- thorn. 
The  last  is  best  because  most  durable 9  and,  for 
dwarf  trees,  much  the  best,  because  they  do  not 
throw  up  wood  so  big  and  so  lofty.  For  orchards, 
pear-stocks  are  best ;  but  not  from  suckers  on 
any  account.  They  are  sure  to  fill  the  orchard 
with  suckers.—  The  pruning  for  your  pear  trees  in 
the  garden  should  bethat  of  the  fieach.  Thepears 
will  grow  higher  ;  but  they  may  be  made  to 
spreai  at  bottom,  and  that  will  keep  them  from 
towering  too  much.  They  should  stand  to- 
gether, in  one  of  the  Plats,  10  oY  11. — The  sorts 
of  pears  are  numerous ;  the  six  that  I  should 
choose  are,  the  Vergalouse,  the  H  inter  Berga- 
wot,  the  D'duche,  the  Beurre,  the  Chaumontelle, 
the  Winter  Bonchretian, 

320.  PLUMS.— How  is  it  that  we  see  so  few 
plums  in  America,  when  the  markets  are  sup- 
plied with  cart-loads  in  such  a  chilly,  shady,  and 
blighty  country  as  England.  A  Green-gage  Plum 
is  very  little  inferior  to  the  very  finest  peach  ; 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  219 

and  I  never  tasted  a  better  Green-gage  than  I 
have  at  New  York.  It  must  therefore,  be  neg- 
ligence. But  Plums  are  prodigious  bearers,  too; 
and  would  be  very  good  for  hogs  as  well  as 
peaches. — This  tree  is  grafted  upon  plum-stocks, 
raised  from  stones  dv  all  means  ;  for  suckers  send 
out  a  forest  of  suckers. — The  pruning  is  precisely 
that  of  the  peach. — The  six  trees  that  I  would 
iiave  in  the  garden  should  be  4  Green-gages,  1 
Orlean,  1  Blue  Perdrigon. 

321.  QUINCE. — Should  grow  in  a  moist  place 
and  in  very  rich  ground.  It  is  raised  from  cut- 
tings or  layers,  and  these  are  treated  like  other 
cuttings  and  layers. — Quinces  are  dried  like 
apples. 

322.  RASBERRY.— A  sort  of  woody  herb, 
but  produces  fruit  that  vies,  in  point  of  crop  as 
well  as  flavour,  with  that  of  the  proudest  tree. 
I  have  never  seen  them  fine  in  America  since  I 
saw  them  covering  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
acres  of  ground  in  the  Province  of  New  Bruns- 
wick. They  come  there  even  in  the  interstices 
of  the  rocks,  and,  when  the  August  sun  has  parch- 
ed up  the  leaves,  the  landscape  is  red  with  the 
fruit.  Where  woods  have  been  burnt  down, 
the  rasberry  and  the  huckle-berry  instantly  spring 
up,  divide  the  surface  between  them,  and  furnish 
autumnal  food  for  flocks  of  pigeons  that  darken 
the  earth  beneath  their  flight.  Whence  these 
plants  come,  and  cover  spots  thirty  or  forty  miles 
square,  which  have  been  covered  with  woods  for 
ages  upon  ages,  I  leave  for  philosophers  to  say, 
contenting  myself  with  relating  how  they  come 
and  how  they  are  treated  in  gardens. — They  are 
raised  from  suckers,  though  they  may  be  raised 


220  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

from  cuttings.  The  suckers  of  this  year,  are 
planted  out  in  rows,  six  feet  apart,  and  the  plant; 
two  apart  in  the  rows.  This  is  done  in  the  fall 
or  early  in  the  spring.  At  the  time  of  planting 
they  should  be  cut  down  to  within  a  foot  of  the 
ground.  They  will  bear  a  little,  and  they  will 
send  out  several  suckers  which  will  bear  the  next 
year. — About  four  is  enough  to  leave,  and  those 
of  the  strongest.  These  should  be  cut  off  in  the 
fall  or  early  in  the  spring,  to  within  four  feet  of 
th  e  ground,  and  should  be  tied  to  a  small  stake 
A  straight  branch  of  Locust  is  best,  and  then  the 
stake  lasts  a  life-time  at  least,  let  the  life  be  as 
long  as  it  may.  The  next  year  more  suckers 
come  up,  which  are  treated  m  the  same  way. — 
Fifty  clumps  are  enough,  if  well  managed. — There 
are  white  and  red,  some  like  one  best  and  some 
the  other.  To  have  them  fine,  you  must  dig  in 
manure  in  the  Autumn,  and  keep  the  ground 
clean  during  summer  by  hoeing.— I  have  tried  to 
dry  the  fruit ;  but  it  lost  its  flavour.  Rasberry 
Jam  is  a  deep  red  sugar ;  and  rasberry-wine  is 
red  brandy,  rum,  or  whiskey  ;  neither  having  the 
taste  of  the  fruit.  To  eat  cherries,  preserved  in 
spirits,  is  only  an  apology,  and  a  very  poor  and 
mean  one,  for  dram-drinking  ;  a  practice  which 
every  man  ought  to  avoid,  and  the  very  thought 
of  giving  way  to  which  ought  to  make  the  cheek 
of  a  woman  redden  with  shame. 

323.  STRAWBERRY.— This  plant  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  fields  and  woods  here,  as  it  is  in  Eu- 
rope. There  are  many  sorts,  and  all  are  improv- 
ed by  cultivation.  The  Scarlet,  the  Aljiine,  the 
Turkey,  the  Haul-bois,  or  high-stalked,  and 
in  any  others,  some  of  which  are  white,  and  some 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  197 

though  it  would  contain  only  half  the  quantity \ 
would  sell  for  as  much  as,  upon  an  average,  ta- 
king in  loss  by  total  destruction,  twenty  barrels 
sell  for  now. '  On  the  deck  is  the  best  part  of  the 
ship  for  apples ;  but,  if  managed  as  I  have  di- 
rected between  decks  would  do  very  well. — In  the 
keeping  of  apples  for  market,  or  for  home  use, 
the  same  precautions  ought  to  be  observed  as  to 
gathering  and  laying  out  to  dry  ;  and,  perhaps, 
to  pack  in  the  same  way  also  is  the  best  mode 
that  can  be  discovered.  Dried  Apfiles  is  an  arti- 
cle of  great  and  general  use.  Every  body  knows, 
that  the  apples  are  peeled,  cut  into  about  eight 
pieces,  the  core  taken  out,  and  the  pieces  put  in 
the  sun  till  they  become  dry  and  tough.  They 
are  then  put  by  in  bags,  or  boxes,  in  a  dry  place. 
But,  the  flesh  of  the  apple  does  not  change  its 
nature  in  the  drying  ;  and  therefore,  the  finest, 
and  not  the  coarsest,  apples  should  have  all  this 
trouble  bestowed  upon  them. 

301.  APRICOT.— This  is  a  very  delightful 
fruit.  It  comes  earlier  than  the  peach ;  and 
some  like  it  better.  It  is  a  hardier  tree,  bears  as 
well  as  the  peach,  and  the  green  fruit,  when  the 
size  of  a  hickory-nut,  makes  a  very  good  tart. — 
When  ripe,  or  nearly  ripe,  it  makes  abetter  pie 
than  the  peach  ;  and  the  tree,  when  well  raised, 
planted  and  cultivated,  will  last  a  century. — 
Apricots  are  budded  or  grafted  upon  jilum  stocks, 
or  upon  stocks  raised  from  Apricot-stones.  They 
do  not  bear  so  soon  as  the  peach  by  one  year. — 
For  the  pruning  of  them  see  Peach. — There  are 
many  sorts  of  dfiricots,  some  come  earlier,  some 
are  larger,  and  some  finer  than  others.  It  may 
be  sufficient  to  name  the  Brussels,  the  More- 
17* 


198  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

Parky  and  the  Turkey.  The  first  carries  most 
fruit  as  to  number  ;  but,  the  others  are  larger 
and  of  finer  flavour.  Perhaps  two  trees  of  each 
of  these  sorts  would  be  the  most  judicious  selec- 
tion. I  have  heard,  that  the  Afiricot  does  not  do 
in  this  country  !  That  is  to  say,  I  suppose,  it 
■will  not  do  of  its  own  accord,  like  a  peach  by 
having  the  sto ne  flung  upon  the  ground,  which 
it  certainly  will  not ;  and  it  is  very  much  to  be 
commended  for  refusing  to  do  in  this  way.  But, 
properly  managed,  I  know  it  will  do,  for  I  nev- 
er tasted  finer  Apricots  than  I  have  in  America; 
and,  indeed,  who  can  believe  that  it  will  not  do 
in  a  country,  where  there  are  no  blights  of  fruit 
trees  worth  speaking  of,  and  where  nlelons  ri- 
pen to  such  perfection  in  the  natural  ground  and 
almost  without  care  ? 

302.  BARBERRY.— This  fruit  is  well  known. 
The  tree,  or  shrub,  on  which  it  grows  is  raised 
from  the  seed,  or  from  suckers,  or  layers.  Its 
place  ought  to  be  in  the  South  Border;  for,  the 
hot  sun  is  rather  against  its  fruit  growing  large. 

303.  CHERRY —Cherries  are  budded  or 
grafted  upon  stocks  raised  from  cherry-stones  of 
any  sort.  If  you  want  the  tree  tall  and  large, 
the  stock  should  come  from  the  small  black 
cherry  tree  that  grows  wild  in  the  woods.  If 
you  want  it  dwarf,  sow  the  stones  of  a  morello  or 
a  May-Duke,  The  sorts  of  cherries  are  very 
numerous ;  but,  the  six  trees  for  my  garden 
should  be,  a.  May  -cherry,  &  May-duke,  a  black- 
heart,  a  white-heart,  and  two  bigeroons.  The 
four  former  are  well  known  in  America,  but  I 
never  saw  but  two  trees  of  the  last,  and  those  I 
sent  from  England  to  Busleton,  yi  Pennsylvania 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  190 

in  the  year  1800.  They  are  now  growing  there, 
in  the  gardens  of  the  two  Messrs.  Paul's.  Cut- 
tings from  them  have  been  carried  and  used  as 
grafts  all  round  the  country.  During  the  few 
days  that  I  was  at  Mr.  James  Paul's,  in  1817, 
several  persons  came  for  grafts  :  so  that  these 
trees  must  be  pretty  famous.  The  fruit  is  large, 
thin  skinned,  small  stone,  and  fine  eolonr  and 
flavour,  and  the  tree  grows  freely  and  in  beau- 
tiful form.  For  Pruning'  see  Peach.  To  fire- 
serve  cherries  gather  them  without  bruizing  ; 
take  off  the  tails  ;  lay  them  in  the  sun  or  on  dry 
deal  boards ;  when  quite  dry,  put  them  by  in 
bags  in  a  dry  place.  They  form  a  variety  in  the 
tart-making  way. 

304,  CHESNUT.— This  is  an  inhabitant  of 
the  woods ;  and,  as  to  its  fruit  I  have  on  y  to 
say,  that  the  American  is  as  much  better  than 
the  Spanish  as  the  tree  is  a  finer  tree. — To  fire- 
serve  chesnuts,  so  as  to  have  them  to  sow  in  the 
spring,  or  to  eat  through  the  winter,  you  must 
put  them  into  a  box,  or  barrel,  mixed  with,  and 
covered  over  by,  fine  dry  sand.  If  there  be  mag- 
gots in  any  of  the  chesnuts,  they  will  work  up 
through  the  sand,  to  get  to  air ;  and,  thus,  you 
have  your  chesnuts  sweet  and  sound  and  fresh. — 
To  know  whether  chesnuts  will  grow,  toss  them 
into  water.    If  they  swim,  they  will  not  grow. 

305.  CRANBERRY.— This  is  one  of  the  best 
fruits  in  the  world.  All  tarts  sink  out  of  sight, 
in  point  of  merit,  when  compared  with  that 
made  of  the  American  Cranberry.  There  is  a 
little  dark  red  thing,  about  as  big  as  a  large  pea, 
sent  to  England  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and 
is  called  a  Cranberry  ;  but,  it  does  not  resemble 


300         AMERICAN  GARDENER, 

the  American  in  taste  any  more  than  in  bulk.— 
It  is  well  known  that  this  valuable  fruit  is,  in 
many  parts  of  this  country,  spread  over  the  low 
lands  in  great  profusion  ;  and  that  the  mere 
gathering  of  it  is  all  that  bountiful  nature  re- 
quires at  our  hands. — This  fruit  is  preserved  all 
the  year,  by  stewing  and  putting  into  jars,  and 
when  taken  thence  is  better  than  currant  jelly.— 
The  fruit,  in  its  whole  state,  laid  in  a  heap,  in  a 
dry  room,  will  keep  sound  and  perfectly  good  for 
six  months.  It  will  freeze  and  thaw  and  freeze 
and  thaw  again  without  receiving  any  injury.  It 
may,  if  you  choose,  be  kept  in  water  all  the 
while,  without  any  injury.  I  received  a  barrel 
in  England,  mixed  with  water,  as  good  and  as 
fresh  as  I  ever  tasted  at  New  York  or  Phila 
delphia. 

306.  CURRANT.— There  are  red,  white  and 
blacky  all  well  known.  Some  persons  like  one 
best,  and  some  another.  The  propagation  and  cul- 
tivation of  all  the  sorts  are  the  same.  The  currant 
tree  is  propagated  from  cuttings;  and  the  cut 
tings  are  treated  as  has  been  seen  in  Para- 
graph 276.  When  the  tree  has  stood  two  years 
in  the  Nursery,  plant  it  where  it  is  to  stand;  and 
take  care  that  it  has  only  one  stem.  Let  no  limbs 
come  out  to  grow  nearer  than  six  inches  of  the 
ground.  Prune  the  tree  every  year.  Keep  it 
thin  of  wood.  Keep  the  middle  open  and  the 
limbs  extended;  and  when  these  .get  to  about 
three  feet  in  length,  cutoff,  every  winter,  all  the 
last  year's  shoots.  If  you  do  not  attend  to  this, 
the  tree  will  be  nothing  but  a  great  bunch  of  twigs, 
and  you  will  have  very  little  fruit.  Cultivate 
and  manure  the  ground  as  for  other  fruit  tree*, 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  225 

'  more  than  seventy  feet  high ;  the  Locust,  most 
beautiful  of  trees  and  best  of  timber  ;  the  Catal- 
ftha%  blossoms  far  more  beautiful  than  those  of 
the  horse-chesnut,  broad  and  beautiful  leaves 
that  do  not  scorch  in  the  hottest  sun  ;  all  the 
beautifully  blowing  Laurel  tribe  ;  the  Rose  of 
Charon  (as  it  is  called  here)  and  the  Althea  Fru- 
tex  ;  the  Azaha  of  all  colours ;  Roses  of  several 
kinds.  But,  there  is  one  shrub  of  the  larger  kind, 
abundant  here,  that  I  never  saw  there,  and  that 
is  the  thing  which  some  eall  the  Morning  Star. 
It  has  six  leaves  in  its  flower,  which  is  in  the  form 
of  the  flower  of  the  single  rose.  The  whole  flow- 
er when  open,  is  about  three  times  the  circumfer- 
ence of  a  dollar.  Some  of  the  trees  bear  blossoms 
quite  white,  and  others  blossoms  of  a  whitish 
peach  blossom  colour.  These  blossoms  come  the 
earliest  in  the  spring.  They  are  out  full,  in  Long 
Island,  in  the  first  week  in  May,  which  is  rather 
earlier  than  the  peach  blossoms.  In  England 
they  would  be  out  full,  on  an  average  of  years,  ni 
the  last  week  of  February,  which  is  an  anticipa- 
tion of  all  their  shrubs.  The  trees,  which  is  a 
great  quality,  thrive  well  under  other  trees,  which 
indeed,  seems  to  be  their  nature.  You  see,  from 
a  great  distance,  their  bright  and  large  blossoms, 
unaccompanied  by  leaves,  shining  through  the 
boughs  of  the  other  trees ;  and  some  of  them  reach 
the  height  of  forty  feet.  This,  therefore,  is  a 
very  fine  flowering  tree;  and  yet  I  never  saw 
one  of  the  kind  in  England.  How  beautiful  a 
grove  might  be  made  of  this  tree,  the  wild-cherry, 
the  Locust,  the  Catalpha,  and  the  Althea-frutex  ! 
And  here  they  are  all,  only  for  the  trouble  of 


226  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

sowing  ;  for  from  the  seed  the  tree  will  surely 
come. 

332.  I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  an  Alphabeti- 
cal List  of  such  flowering  Trees,  Shrubs  and 
Plants  as  I  think  worthy  of  cultivation ;  or,  rath- 
er, that  I  myself  would  wish  to  have  about  my 
house,  or  in  my  garden.  As  I  go  on  I  shall  state 
some  particulars  here  and  there  relating  to  propa- 
gation and  management ;  but,  to  be  very  particular 
would  be  superfluous,  seeing  that  such  full  direc- 
tions have  been  given  in  the  former  parts  of  the 
work,  as  to  the  sowing  of  all  seeds,  great  as  well 
as  small ;  as  to  the  raising  of  trees  and  plants 
from  cuttings,  slips,  layers,  and  suckers,  and  as 
cultivation  and  tillage.  Flowers  are  divided  into 
annuals,  biennials  andfierennials.  The  first  blow 
and  die  the  year  they  are  sown;  the  second 
blow  the  second  year  and  then  die;  the  third  some- 
times blow  the  first  year,  and  sometimes  not,  and 
die  down  to  the  ground  annually,  but  spring  up 
again  every  spring.  I  have  not  made  separate 
lists;  but  have  included  the  whole  in  one  Alpha- 
betical List.  There  are  sixty  trees,  shrubs  and 
plants  altogether  ;  and,  properly  cultivated,  these 
will  give  a  grand  bloom  from  May  to  November, 

LIST. 

333.  ALTHEA  FRUTEX.— It  is  raised  from 
seed,  or  from  suckers.  There  are  several  sorts, 
as  to  the  colours.  They  should  be  mixed  to 
make  a  variety.  Save  the  seed  in  November  or 
December.  The  pods  are  full.  Sow  in  the 
spring.  Seed  produces  the  handsomest  shrub; 
and  it  is  to  be  got  almost  anv  where. 

334     ANEMONE,— This  is  a  very  beautiful 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  227 

flower,  and  worthy  of  great  pains.  It  is  raised 
from  seed,  or  from  pieces  of  the  roots.  Sow  the 
seed  in  spring.  The  plant  does  not  blow  the  first 
year.  The  root,  which  is  tuberous,  is  taken  up 
in  the  fall,  dried  in  the  sun,  and  put  by  in  the  ground 
till  spring,  when  it  is  put  into  the  ground  again. 
And,  during  the  summer,  it  sends  out  young  roots 
which  must  be  taken  off  and  planted  out,  to  be- 
come blowers.  There  is  a  great  variety  of  colours 
and  of  sizes  of  this  flower. 

335.  ARBUTUS.— A  pretty  ever-green,  as 
well  known  as  the  oak  tree  ;  and  is  to  be  got  every 
where. 

336.  ASTRE  (China).— Astre  is  French  for 
star,  and  this  flower,  in  its  shape,  resembles  a 
star  to  our  view.  It  is  annual,  bears  great  quan- 
tities of  seed,  and  is  sown  early  in  spring.  An 
infinite  variety  of  colours  and  great  quantities  of 
blossoms.  It  gives  no  smell  ;  but  a  clump  of  it 
furnishes  a  great  mass  of  beauty  to  the  sight. 

337.  AURICULA.— Thisis  one  of  the  flowers, 
the  sorts  of  which  are  distinguished  by  having 
awarded  to  them  the  names  of  famous  men  and 
women,  famous  cities,  and  famous  battles,  and  so 
forth.  It  may  be  raised  from  seed;  bot  tire  flow- 
ers proceeding  from  plants  so  raised,  do  not  re- 
semble the  flowers  of  the  mother  plant,  except  by 
mere  accident.  It  is  a  chance  if  you  get  a  fine 
flower  from  a  whole   sown  bed.    Now-and  then 

one  of  this  description  comes,  however,  and  this 
adds  to  the  list  of  names,  if  it  happen  to.  be  one  of 
the  like  of  which  has  not  made  its  appearance 
before.  Auriculas  are  therefore,  propagated  by 
parting  the  roots,  and  every  root  sends  out  seve- 
ral young  plants  annually     When  sown,  they  do 


228  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

not  blow  till  the  second  year ;  but  the  old  root 
lasts  for  many  years.  Some  of  these  should  be 
/totted*  and  kept  to  blow  in  the  green-house.  If 
planted  in  the  natural  ground,  they  ought  to  be 
covered  a  little  in  the  winter.  There  are  many 
hundreds  of  sorts  with  names.  So  many  indeed, 
that  the  godfathers  in  England  have  been  so  put 
to  it  for  great  personages  to  baptize  the  flowers 
after  that  they  have  been  compelled  to  resort  to 
the  heroes  and  heroines  of  Romance  ;  accordingly 
they  have  Don  Quickset  and  Sancho.  However, 
vanity  supplies  the  florists,  as  well  as  the  ship- 
owners, with  a  great  store  of  names*  and  auricu- 
las, like  ships,  are  frequently  honoured  with 
the  names  of  the  original  proprietor's  wife  or 
daughter. 

338.  AZALIA.— That  little  American  Ho- 
neysuckle that  impedes  our  steps  when  shooting 
on  the  skirts  of  woods.  It,  however,  blows  pro- 
fusely, though  it  has  no  smell  like  the  English 
honeysuckle. 

339.  BALSAM  is  an  annual  and  most  beauti- 
ful plant,  with  great  abundance  of  flowers.  Sow 
when  ]§ou  sow  Melons,  at  a  distance  of  four  feet ; 
leave  only  one  plant  in  a  place ;  let  the  ground  be 
rich  and  kept  clean  ;  it  will  blow  early  in  July, 
and  will  keep  growing  and  blowing  till  the  frost 
comes,  and  then,  like  the  cucumber,  it  is  instant- 
ly cut  down.  I  have  seen  Balsams  in  Pennsylva- 
nia 3  feet  high,  with  side-branches  2  feet  long, 
and  with  a  stem  much  bigger  than  my  wrist, 
loaded ;  with  beautiful  blossoms.  Plant,  branch, 
leaf,  flower ;  all  are  most  elegantly  formed,  and 
the  colours  of  the  flower  extraordinarily  vivid 
and  various,    There  are,  however,  some  more 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  229 

double  than  others,  and  some  variegated.  The 
seed  of  these  should  be  sowed,  ^and  it  comes  in 
great  abundance.  The  flower  ,of  the  Balsam  has 
no  smell. 

340.  BRIAR  (Sweet).— A  well  known  shrub 
of  the  rose  kind.  Rows  of  it  carefully  planted  and 
pruned  make  very  good  hedges,  and  it  will  grow 
in  almost  any  ground,  though  fastest  in  good 
ground. 

341.  CAMILLIA.-— This  shrub,  which  is  of 
the  laurel-tribe,  has  lately  been  introduced  in 
England  from  Japan.  It  bears  a  flower,  which 
when  open,  resembles  a  good  deal  a  large  full- 
blown rose  ;  and  these  flowers,  on  different  plants, 
are  of  different  colours.  It  is  raised,  doubtless! 
from  seed ;  but  it  may  be  grafted  on  the  Haw, 
thorn  ;  and,  I  dare  say,  on  the  Crab,  Some  of 
the  plants  have  been  sold  at  20  or  30  pounds 
each.  By  this  time  they  are  probably  sold  at  a 
dollar.  The  plant  as  well  as  the  flower  are 
handsome ;  and  certainly  cuttings  for  grafting 
may  easily  be  brought  from  England.  They  will 
stand  the  winter  as  well  as  any  of  the  American 
laurels. 

342.  CARNATION.— Here  is  beauty  and 
fragrance,  and  both  in  the  highest  degree. 
There  are  various  sorts,  distinguished,  like  those 
of  the  Auricula,  by  names  ;  and,  what  is  said  of 
the  seed  of  the  Auricula  applies  here.  If  sown, 
the  carnation  does  not  blow  till  the  second  year. 
It  is  usually  propagated  by  layers.  While  it  is 
blowing,  it  sends  out  several  side  shoots  near  the 
ground.  These  are  pinned  down  in  August,  to 
the  earth  with  a  little  stick  with  a  hook  at  the  end 
of  it.  A  little  cat,  or  tongue,  is  made  on  the  under 

20 


230  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

side  of  the  shoot ;  and  thus  the  head  of  the  shoo'. 
is  brought  upright.  The  part  that  touches  the 
ground  is  well  covered  "with  earth  ;  and  roots 
come  out  here  before  the  fall.  Then  the  stalk, 
which  connects  the  young  plant  with  the  old  one 
is  cutoff;  the  young  plant  is  transplanted,  and 
the  next  year  it  blows.  The  old  root  does  not 
stand  another  year  well;  and,  therefore,  its 
branches  are  thus  made  use  of  to  keep  up  the 
race  and  the  sort. — Carnations  are  rather  tender 
as  to  frost.  And  must  be  well  covered  in  this 
country  to  live  through  the  winter.  It  is  best  to 
put  them  in  large  pots  to  give  room  for  laying  ; 
and  to  keep  them  in  a  green-house  in  winter, 
or  in  some  house  where  they  can  have  sun  and 
air.  However,  they  merit  all  the  pains  that  can 
be  bestowed  upon  them. 

343.  CAT  ALPHA.— That  beautiful   Ameri- 
can tree  mentioned  in  Paragraph  329. 

344.  CLOVE. — Is  only  a  more  handy  and  less 
esteemed  sort  of  Carnation,  which  see.  It  may 
be  propagated  like  the  Carnation  ;  or,  by  cuttings 
which  is  the  easier  way.  Instead  of  laying  down 
the  side  shoots,  you  cut  them  off.  Then  you  cut 
away  the  hard  »art  of  the  shoot,  strip  off  three 
or  four  of  the  bottom  leaves,  lip.  the  rest  of  the 
leaves  ;  make  a  little  split  in  the  butt  of  the 
shoot,  and,  then,  with  a  little  smooth  pointed 
stick,  plant  the  cutting  in  the  ground.  This  is 
to  be  done  early  in  August.  The  young  Cloves 
will  have  roots  in  the  tall;  and  you  may  trans- 
plant them  in  the  open  ground  or  into  pots  to , 
blow  the  next  year.  The  old  Clove  plant  will, 
however,  blow  for  many  years.  I  should  think, 
that,  with  good  covering,   such   as  directed  for 


AMERICAN  GARDENER,  231 

sfiinach,  Cloves  would  live  out  the  winter  in  this 
country. 

345.  COLUMBINE.— A  perennial.      Very 
common  ;  but  very  pretty. 

346.  COWSLIP.— This  is  one  of  the  four 
flowers,  without  which  English  pastoral  poetry 
would  be  destitute  of  that  which  awakens  the 
most  delightful  ideas.  The  Cowslip,  the  Prim- 
?°ose,  the  Violet,  and  the  Daisy,  are  of  endless 
recurrence  in  that  species  of  writing.  They  all 
come  early  in  the  spring ;  and  are  all  beautiful. 
Neither  of  them  is  seen  here,  and  they  all  might ; 
for  they  will  bear  any  severity  of  weather.  The 
Cowslip  is  of  the  Polyanthus  tribe.  It  is  of  a 
delicate  yellow  colour,  and  sends  forth  many  blos- 
soms from  the  same  stem,  which  rises  about  six 
inches  from  the  ground.  It  may  easily  be  pro- 
pagated from  seed,  which  it  bears  in  great  abun- 
dance, but,  when  you  once  have  a  plant,  the 
easiest  way  is  to  propagate  from  onsets.  The 
plants  raised  from  seed  do  not  blow  till  the  se- 
cond year.  The  plant  is  fierenniaL  The  flower 
has  a  delicate  sweet  smell,  and  also  sweet  taste, 
as  a  proof  of  which,  cart-loads  of  the  flowers, 
plucked  from  the  stalks,  are  sold  in  London  to 
make  "  wine"  with  ;  that  is  to  say  to  furnish 
drinkers  with  an  apology  for  swallowing  spirits 
under  the  specious  name  of  Cowslip- wine.  The 
leaf  of  the  flower  very  much  resembles  in  shape 
the  under  lip  of  a  cow ,  whence,  I  suppose,  our 
forefathers  gave  the  plants  the  name  of  cowslip. 

347.  CROCUS.— A  bulbous  rooted  plant,  very 
well  known.  It  is  recommended  by  its  earliness, 
It  is  perfectly  hardy.  The  only  thing  to  do, 
when  it  is  once  planted,  is  to    ake  care  that  it 


232  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

does  not  fill  all  the  ground  near  it.  There  are 
yellow,  blue,  and  white  Crocuses.  And  they  are 
pleasant  when  nothing  else  is  in  bloom,  except, 
at  least,  the  Snowdrofi,  which  departs  soon  after 
the  Crocus  begins  to  appear. 

348,  DAISY. — I  cannot  say,  with  Dryden's 
damsels,  in  one  of  his  fine  poems,  that  "  the 
"  Daisy  smells  so  siveet"  for  it  has  very  little 
smell ;  but  is  a  most  beautiful  little  flower,  and 
blows  without  ceasing  at  all  times  when  the 
grass  grows,  however  little  that  may  be.  The 
opening  of  the  Daisy  is  the  sure  sign  that  there  is 
growth  going  on  in  the  grass;  and  these  little 
flowers  bespangle  the  lawns  and  the  meadows, 
the  green  banks  and  the  glades  all  over  England. 
Their  colours  present  an  endless  variety;  and 
those  grown  in  gardens  are  double.  The  field- 
Daisy  is  single  and  about  the  size  of  a  York  Six- 
pence. Those  in  the  gardens  are  sometimes  as 
broad  as  a  quarter  of  a  dollar.  And  there  is  one 
sort,  called  the  Hen-and-chicken  Daisy,  that  has 
a  ring  of  little  flowers  surrounding  the  main  flow- 
er. This  plant  may  be  raised  from  offsets  or 
seed,  in  which  last  case  it  blows  the  second  year. 
It  is  perennial. 

349.  GERANIUM  wants  hardiness  only  to 
make  it  the  finest  flower-plant  of  which  I  have 
any  knowledge.  Some  give  us  flower  with  lit- 
tle or  no  leaf  ;  others  have  beauty  of  leaf  as  well 
as  of  flower,  but  give  us  no  fragrance  ;  others,  like 
the  rose,  gives  us  this  added  to  beauty  of  flower 
and  of  leaf,  but,  it  give  us  them  only  for  a  part  of 
the  year.  But,  the  Geranium  has  beautiful  leaf, 
beautiful  flower,  fragrant  smell  from  leaf  as  well 
as  from  flower,  and  these  it  has  in  never-ceasing 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  233 

abundance  ;  and  as  to  variety  of  sorts,  as  well  in 
leaf  as  in  flower,  it  surpasses  even  the  flower  of 
the  Auricula.  How  delightful  the  country,  -Wher  e 
Geraniums  form  the  underwood,  and  the  Myrtles 
tower  above  !  Softly,  my  friends.  Beneath  that 
underwood  lurks  the  poisonous  lizards  and  ser- 
pents, and  through  those  Myrtle  boughs  the 
deadly  winged  adders  rustle  ;  while  all  around  is 
dry  and  burning  sand.  The  Geranium  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  South  of  Africa;  and,  though  it  will 
not  receive  its  death-blow  from  even  a  sharpish 
frost,  it  will  not  endure  the  winter,  even  in  the 
mild  climate  of  England.  But,  then,  it  is  so  easy 
of  cultivation,  it  grows  so  fast,  blows  so  soon,  and 
is  so  little  troubl:  some,  that  it  seems  to  argue  an 
insensibility  to  the  charms  of  nature  not  to  have 
Geraniums  if  we  have  the  means  of  obtaining 
earth  and  sun. — The  Geranium  is  propagated 
from  seed,  or  from  cuttings.  The  seed,  like 
that  of  the  Auricula,  does  not  produce  flower  or 
leaf  like  the  mother  plant,  except  by  chance.  It 
is  easily  saved,  and  for  curiosity's  sake,  maybe 
sown  to  see  if  a  new  variety  will  come.  But,  a 
cutting,  from  any  part  of  the  plant,  old  wood 
or  young  wood,  stuck  into  the  ground,  or  into  a 
pot,  will  grow  and  become  a  plant,  and  will  blow 
in  a  month  from  the  time  you  put  it  into  the 
ground.  You  must  have  plants,  indeed,  to  cut 
from;  but  these  may  be,  in  small  number  at  any 
rate,  in  a  window,  during  winter.  When  the 
the  spring  comes  cut  them  up  into  cuttings,  put 
these  in  the  ground  where  you  wish  to  have  plants 
during  the  summer.  They  will  be  in  bloorn  by 
July,  and,  before  October  will  be  large  as  a  cur- 
Take  off  cuttings  from  these  during 


234  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

September,  put  them  in  pots,  and  they  are  ready 
for  the  next  spring.  If  you  have  a  Green-home, 
you  have  Geraniums  in  full  bloom  all  the  long 
dreary  winter. 

350.  GUELDER-ROSE. — This  is  called 
here  the  Snow  Ball  tree.  It  is  raised  either  from 
layers  or  suckers.  Its  bloom  is  of  short  dura- 
tion ;  but  for  the  time,  makes  a  grand  show  in  a 
shrubbery.  The  suckers  of  it  ought  to  be  dug 
clean  away  every  year. 

351.  HAWTHORN.— This  tree  has  been 
amply  described  in  Chapter  I.  under  the  head  of 
Fencing.  Sometimes  it  is  called  Hawthorn,  and 
sometimes  White-thorn. 

352.  HEART'S-EASE,  or  Pansey.—A  beau- 
tiful little  annual,  which  has  great  varieties,  and 
all  of  them  pretty.  It  blows  all  the  summer. — 
It  may  be  sown  in  the  fall,  without  any  care  about 
covering  the  ground;  but,  it  must  not  come  ufi, 
in  this  country,  till  spring. 

353.  HEATH.— The  common  English  heath 
is  hardy,  but  ugly.  The  Heaths  from  Africa  are 
of  infinite  variety.  Insignificant  in  flower,  how- 
ever, and  must  be  housed  in  Winter.  They  are 
propagated  from  seed,  or  from  slips,  and  will 
last  a  long  while.  A  few  in  a  green-house  are 
pretty  ;  and  they  look  gay  in  winter. 

354.  HOLLYHOCK.— This  is  a  fine  showy 
plant  for  a  shrubbery.  There  are  double  and 
single,  and  none  but  the  double  should  be  culti- 
vated. It  may  he  raised  from  seed,  or  from  off- 
sets If  the  former  it  does  not  blow  till  the  se- 
cond year.  It  will  remain  in  the  ground  man> 
years,  and  is  perfectly  hardy. 


rai 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  235 

^55.  HOLLYHOCK.  (Chinese).— This  is  a 
more  tender  and  far  more  beautiful  kind  than  the 
common.  It  is  raised  from  seed  only;  blows  the 
second  year,  and  only  that  year.  It  is,  there- 
fore   a  biennial, 

356.  HONEYSUCKLE.— This,  amongst  all 
English  shrubs,  is  the  only  rival  ©f  the  Rose; 
and,  if  put  to  the  vote,  perhaps  as  many  persons 
would  decide  for  one  as  for  the  other.  Its  name 
indicates  its  sweetness  of  taste,  and  the  smell  is 
delightful  almost  beyond  comparison.  The  plant 
is  also  beautiful  :  it  climbs  up  houses  and  over 
hedges;  it  forms  arbors  and  bowers  :  and  has  a 
long-continued  succession  of  blossoms.  It  grows 
wild  in  all  parts  of  England,  in  many  parts  cov- 
ering the  hedges  and  climbing  up  the  trees. — 
There  is  little  variety  as  to  sorts.  That  which 
is  cultivated  has  a  larger  and  deeper-coloured 
bloom,  but  the  wild  has  the  sweetest  smell. — It 
may  be  propagated  from  seed ;  but  always  is 
from  cuttings  ;  put  into  the  ground  in  the  spring, 
and  treated  like  other  wood-cuttings.  See  Para- 
graph 275. 

35F.  HYACINTH.— This  is  3.  bulbous  root- 
ed plant,  and,  like  all  the  plants  of  that  class,  is 
Perennial.  It  may  be  raised  from  seed:  but,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Auricula  and  many  other 
plants,  it  is  many  chances  to  one,  that,  out  of  a 
whole  bed,  you  do  not  get  a  good  flower  ;  and, 
perhaps,  it  is  a  hundred  to  one  that  you   do  not 

t  a  flower  to   resemble  the  mother  plant. — 

herefore,  none  but  curious  florists  attempt  to 
aise  frem  seed.  The  roots  are  propagated  from 
off-sets;  that  is  to  say,  the  mother  root,  while  it  is 
blowing,  sends  out,  on  its  sides,  several   young 


236  AMERICAN  GARDENER 

ones.    The  old  root,  young  ones  and  all,  are  put 

away  in  a  dry  place,  out  of  reach  of  severe  frost, 

till  spring.     Then,  when  you  plant  the   old   one 

nut  to  blow  again,  you  take  off  the   young  ones 

and  plant  them  also.     They  do  not  blow  the  first 

year,    and,  if  weak,   not  "the   second.    But,    in 

,  they  do  ;  and  then  they  produce  offsets. — 

is  the  way  the  Hyacinth  is   multiplied.     It 

ne  and  fragrant  flower  ;  it  blows  early,  and 

ow  well  even  in   glasses  in  a  room  ;  but 

better  in  earth.     A  fine  flower  for  a  green- house, 

where  it  would  be  out  in  full   bloom   while   the 

snow  was  on  the  ground. 

358.  JASMIN.—Hasthe  merit  of  a  very  de- 
lightful smell,  and  that  only.  Its  leaf  and  flow- 
er are  magnificent.  It  climbs,  however,  and  is 
good  to  cover  bowers.  It  is  easily  raised  from 
cutti?igs.    See  Paragraph  275. 

359.  JONQUIL. — An  elegant  and  sweet  smel- 
ling bulbous  rooted  plant.  Propagated,  and  cul- 
tivated in  all  respects,  like  the  Hyacinth^  which 
see. 

360.  KALMIA. — An  evergreen  shrub  of  great 
beauty,  and  of  several  varieties,  great  quantities 
of  which  are  seen  in  most  of  the  rocky  woodlands 
of  this  country. 

351.  KILL-CALF.— Mentioned  in  Paragraph 
328,  which  see.  It  is  a  dwarf  shrub,  and  may 
be  raised  from  seed,  or  from  suckers.  It  is  very 
pretty.  When  in  bloom  it  resembles  a  large 
clump  of  Sweet  Williams.  It  is  so  pretty  that 
it  is  worth  having  in  the  green-house,  where 
it  would  blow,  probably  in  April,  in  Long 
Island. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  237 

362.  LABURNHAM.— This  is  a  tall  and 
beautiful  shrub,  loaded,  when  in  bloom,  with 
yellow  blossoms,  in  chains  ;  whence  it  is  some- 
times called  the  Golden  Chain.  I  sent  one  out 
to  Pennsylvania  in  1800  ;  but,  though  alive  now, 
it  has  never  got  to  any  height,  and  has  never 
borne  blossoms,  being  continually  nipped  by  the 
winter.  That  it  will  grow  and  thrive  in  this 
country  is,  however,  certain  ;  for  I  saw  two  very 
fine  trees  in  grand  bloom  in  the  garden,  between 
Brooklyn  and  the  Turnpike  gate,  last  spring. — 
It  is  raised  from  the  seed  as  easily  as  Indian 
Corn  is. 

363.  LARKSPUR.— An  annual  of  no  smell, 
but  of  great  variety  as  to  colours,  and,  when  in 
a  clump,  or  bed,  presenting  a  great  mass  of 
bloom.  There  is  a  dwarf  and  a  tall  sort.  The 
dwarf  is  the  best.  There  is  a  branching  kind, 
which  is  good  for  nothing. 

364.  LILAC— Desirable  for  its  great  masses 
of  fine  large  bunches  of  bloom.  There  is  the 
White,  the  Blue,  and  the  Reddish.  It  is  propa- 
gated from  sucker 's ,  of  which  it  sends  out  too 
many,  and  from  which  it  should  be  kept  as  clear 
as  possible.  It  is  an  ugly  shrub  when  out  of 
bloom.  The  leaves  soon  become  brown.  There- 
fore, there  should  be  but  few  Lilacs  in  a  shrub- 
bery. 

365.     LILY    OF   THE    VALLEY. This 

the  only  Lily  that  I  should  like  to  have.  It  is 
a  pretty  little  dwarf  plant,  that  thrives  best  in 
the  shade,  where  it  produces  beautiful  blossoms 
of  exquisite  sweetness.  It  is  a  bulbous  root,  and 
propagated  from  offsets. 


238  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

366,  LOCUST.— Well  known,  and  suffici- 
ently noticed  in  Paragraph  329.  It  may  be  rais- 
ed from  suckers  ;  but  best  from  seed,  which  al- 
ways makes  the  straightest  trunk. 

367.  LUPIN. — A  species  of  fie  a  or  tare,  and 
frequently  cultivated  in  the  fields,  and  eaten  in 
soup  and  otherwise,  by  the  Italians,  and  in  the 
South  of  France.  It  grows,  however,  upon  a 
siff  stem,  stands  upright,  and  branches  out,  like 
a  tree  in  miniature.  There  is  a  great  variety  of 
sorts,  as  to  colour  of  flower  as  well  as  to  size  of 
plant.  The  Yellow  dwarf  is  the  best,  and  it 
smells  very  sweet.  This  plant,  is,  of  course,  an 
annual. 

368.  MAGNOLI A.— One  of  the  finest  of  the 
laurel  tribe.  It  can  be  raised  from  seed,  or  from 
layers.  A  very  fine  shrub  indeed.  There  are 
several  varieties  of  it. 

369.  MIGNONETTE. — An  annual  thai 
bears  abundance  of  seed.  The  plant  and  the 
flower  do  not  surpass  those  of  the  most  contemp- 
tible weed ;  but  the  flower  has  a  very  sweet 
smell.  It  may,  it  you  have  a  green  house,  be 
had  at  any  time  of  the  year.  The  plants  may 
stand  at  four  or  five  inches  asunder;  but,  if  they 
stand  thicker,  the  bloom  is  inferior,  and  does 
not  last  so  long. 

370.  MORNING  STAR.— This  fine  shrub 
has  been  sufficiently  described  in  Paragraph  329 
It  can  be  raised  from  seed,  or  from  layers. 

371.  MYRTLE.— The  Myrtle  is  a  native  of 
climates  where  it  is  never  cold.  It  will  not  en- 
dure even  November  all  out,  in  Long  Island. — 
To  have  it,  therefore,  it  must  be  housed  in  win- 
ter.   It  may  be  raised  from  seed,  ciittings,  slips 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  239 

or  layers.  The  leaf  of  the  Myrtle  has  a  fine 
smell ;  and,  when  the  tree  is  in  bloom  it  is  pret- 
ty. But,  it  is  a  gloomy  looking  shrub.  One 
Geranium  is  worth  a  thousand  Myrtles.  The 
broad-leaved  Myrtle  is  the  best  in  every  respect 
and  especially  because  it  is  easily  brought  to 
blow. 

372.  NARCISSUS— A  bulbous-rooted  plant, 
managed  precisely  like  the  Hyacinth,  which 
see.  It  blows  early,  is  very  beautiful,  and  has  a 
delightful  smell.  Nothing  is  easier  than  the 
propagation  and  management  of  flowers  of  this 
tribe,  and  few  are  more  pleasing.  The  Narcis- 
sus is  a  very  nice  thing  for  a  parlour,  or  a  green- 
house. 

373.  PASSION-FLOWER.— So  called  be- 
cause  the  flower  has  a  Cross  in  the  middle,  and 
rays,  resembling  a  glory,  round  the  edges  of  it. 
It  is  a  singularly  beautiful  flower.  The  plant  is 
also  beautiful.  It  is  a  climber,  like  the  Honey- 
suckle ;  and,  like  that,  has  a  succession  of  blos- 
soms that  keep  it  in  bloom  a  long  while.  It  is 
raised  from  cuttings,  which,  treated  as  other 
cuttings  are,  easily  take  root. 

374.  PCEONY. — A  perennial  that  may  be 
raised  from  seed  or  offsets.  A  grand  flower  for 
shrubberies.  Each  flower  is  usually  as  big  as  a 
tea-cup,  and  one  plant  will  sometimes  produce 
twenty  or  thirty. 

375.  PEA  (Sweet.) — There  are  a  great  varie- 
ty in  the  annual  sorts  as  to  colours  of  blossom, 
and,  there  is  a.  fieimennial  sort,  called  everlasting 
<iea.  This  stands,  of  course,  year  after  year,; — 
The  others  are  sown  and  cultivated  like  the  com- 
mon garden  pea.    They  should  have  some  sticks 


340  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

to  keep  them  up.    This  is  a  very  showy  flower, 
and  remains  in  bloom  a  long  while. 

376.  PINK.— -This  flower  is  too  well  known 
to  need  describing  here.  There  are  a  great  va- 
riety of  sorts,  as  to  the  flower  ;  but  all  are  culti- 
vated in  the  same  way  ;  exactly  as  directed  for 
the  Clove,  which  see.  The  Pink  root  will  last  a 
great  many  years ;  but,  the  flower  is  seldom  so 
fine  as  the  first  year  of  the  plant's  blowing. 

377.  POL  YANTHUS.— Every  thing  that  has 
been  said  of  the  iuricula  (which  see)  may  be 
said  of  the  Polyanthus.  It  is  a  very  pretty  flow- 
er, and  universally  esteemed.  It  blows  finest  out 
of  the  hot  sun.  Polyanthuses  are  best  in  beds; 
for  a  great  part  of  their  merit  consists  of  the 
endless  -variety  which  they  present  to  the  eye. — 
The  Polyanthus  has  a  delicately  sweet  smell  like 
that  of  the  Cowslip. 

378.  POPPY.— A  very  bad  smell,  but  still  is 
to  be  sought  for  on  account  of  its  very  great  va- 
riety in  size,  height  and  in  flower ;  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  gayness  of  that  flower.  The  seed 
pods  of  some  are  of  the  bulk  of  a  three  pounds 
weight,  while  those  of  others  are  not  so  big  as 
even  a  small  pea.  The  smallest,  however,  con- 
tains a  thousand  seeds,  and  these  come  up,  and 
the  plants  flourish,  with  very  little  care.  A  pret- 
ty large  bed,  with  two  or  three  hundred  sorts  in 
it,  is  a  spectacle  hardly  surpassed  in  beauty  by 

^any  thing  in  the  vegetable  creation.  It  is  an  an- 
nual, of  course.  It  is  well  known  as  a  medicinal 
plant ;  but,  it  is  not  so  well  known  as  a  plant 
from  the  seed  of  which  sallad-oil  is  sometimes 
made!  The  Germans,  on  the  Rhine,  cultivate 
whole  fields  of  it  for  this  purpose.    It  may  be  as 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  241 

well,  therefore,  for  us  to  take  care  net  to  use 
German  Sallad-Oil,  which,  however,  can  with 
great  difficulty  be  distinguished  from  oil  of  olives. 
379.  PRIMROSE.— A  beautiful  little  flower 
of  a  pale  yellow  and  delicate  smell.  It  comes 
very  early  in  the  spring  ;  and  continues  a  good  • 
while  in  bloom.  Of  the  fibrous  rooted  flowers  it 
is  the  next  to  the  Daisy  in  point  of  earliness. — 
It  is  an  universal  favourite ;  and,  in  England,  it 
comes  abundantly  in  woods,  pastures  and  banks. 
It  is  perennial  like  the  Cowsiifi,  and  is  propaga- 
ted in  the  same  manner.  How  beautiful  a  Long- 
Island  wood  would  look  in  April,  the  ground  be- 
neath the  trees  being  decked  with  Primroses  ! 

380.  RANUNCULUS.— Is  a  flower  of  the 
nature  of  the  Anemone,  which  see.  It  is  propa- 
gated and  cultivated  in  the  same  manner.  These 
two  flowers  are  usually  planted  out  in  bedsr 
where  they  make  a  very  fine  show. 

381.  RHODODENDRON.— It  never  oc- 
curred, perhaps,  to  any  American  to  give  this 
fine  name  to  the  laurel  with  a  long  narrow  leaf 
and  great  bunches  of  blue,  pink,  or  white  flow- 
ers, the  balls,  or  pods,  containing  which  appear 
!he  year  before  the  flower.  It  is,  however,  a 
beautiful  shrub,  and  not  less  beautiful  on  account 
of  its  frequently  covering  scores  of  acres  of 
rocky  sides  of  hills,  or  on  account  of  Englisk 
Gardeners  believing  that  it  requires  bog-earth 
(though  fetched  from  many  miles  distance,  at 
vast  expense)  to  make  it  grow  and  blow  ! 

382.  ROSES. — A  volume  larger  than  this 

touldnot  describe  the  differences  in  all  the  sorts  of 
is,  which  has  for  ages,  been  considered  as  the 
ueen  of  Flowers,  the  excellences  of  which  to 


242  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

attempt  to  describe  would  be  to  insult  the  taste 
of  every  reader.  I  shall,  therefore,  merely 
speak  of  the  propagation  and  the  management  of 
the  plant.  All  roses  may  be  propagated  from 
seed  ;  but,  as  the  seed  seldom  comes  up  till 
the  second  year,  and  as  the  plants  come  to  per- 
fection slowly,  the  usual  mode  of  propagation  of 
all  sorts,  except  the  China  Rose,  is  by  suckers. 
These  come  out  near  old  stems,  during  the  sum- 
mer ;  they  are  dug  up  in  the  fall  and  planted 
out.  In  the  spring  they  are  cut  down  near  to  the 
ground,  and,  the  next  year,  they  blow. — The 
China  Rose  is  so  easily  raised  from  cuttings,  and 
little  bits,  put  in  the  ground  in  spring,  will  be 
trees,  and  have  a  profusion  of  bloom  before  the 
fall.  This  Rose  is  in  bloom  in  England,  from 
May  till  January,  if  the  soil  and  situation  both 
be  good. — It  is  very  strange  that  Mr,  Marshall 
should  set  this  down  amongst  "  tender  shrubs," 
and  say,  that  "  it  will  not  do  abroad,  exeept  in 
*c  summer  months"  It  stands  the  winter  as  well 
as  the  oak,  and,  I  have,  for  years,  had  it,  against 
the  front  of  my  house,  blowing  finely  at  Christ- 
-mas,  without  any  attempt  at  covering.  In 
America,  in  the  open  air,  it  might  not  be  in 
bloom  at  Christmas  ;  but  it  stands  the  winter  as 
well  as  any  tree  that  can  be  named.  It  is  beau- 
tiful for  the  Green-house  ;  for  there  it,  mixed 
with  Geraniums,  blow  beautifully  all  the  winter 
long.  As  to  the  management  of  roses  ;  the 
ground  should  be  good,  and  dug  every  autumn  as 
directed  for  fruit  trees,  and  should  be  ma- 
nured frequently.  They  should  (except  when 
trained  against  walls  or  over  bowers)  be  kept  cut 
down  low ;  fer,  when  they  get  long  stems  and 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  243 

limbs,  they,  like  peach  trees,  not  only  look  ug- 
ly, but  bear  but  few  flowers,  and  those  very 
mean  ones.  They  should,  therefore,  be  cut  to 
within  a  foot,  or  less,  of  the  ground ;  and  all 
dead  or  weak  wood  should  be  pruned  out  close 
without  leaving  any  ugly  stubs, 

383.  SIBERIAN  CRAB.— This  Shrub  is,  by 
some,  esteemed  for  its  fruit,  of  which  they  make 
a  conserve,  more,  I  imagine,  to  gratify  the  sight 
than  to  gratify  the  palate.  But,  as  a  tall  shrub, 
it  yields,  for  the  time,  to  very  few.  There  is 
the  red-blossomed  and  the  white-blossomed. — 
The  branches  of  both,  when  in  bloom,  present 
ropes  of  flowers,  while  the  trunk,  the  limbs,  the 
branches  and  the  leaves  are  all  delicate  in  form 
and  in  hue. 

384.  SNOW  DROP.— Is  the  earliest  of  all 
flowers;  In  England  it  blows  in  January.  Once 
in  the  ground  it  is  not  very  easy  to  get  it  out 
again.  Nothing  but  carrying  it  away,  or  actu- 
ally consuming  it  with  fire  will  rid  you  of  it.— 
No  sun,  not  even  an  American  sun,  will  kill  a 
Snow-Drop  bulb,  if  it  touch  the  ground, 

385.  STOCK. — There  are  annuals  and  bien- 
nials of  this  name  ;  and,  if  I  were  to  choose 
amongst  all  the  annuals  and  biennials,  I  should 
certainly  choose  the  Stock.  Elegant  leaf,  ele- 
gant plant,  beautiful,  showy,  and  most  fragrant 
flower ;  and,  with  suitable  attention,  bloom, 
even  in  the  natural  ground,  from  May  to  Novem- 
ber here.  The  annuals  are  called  ten-week 
Stocks.  And  of  these  there  are,  with  a  pea- 
green  leaf,  the  Red,  White,  Purple,  and  Scar- 
let ;  and,  then,  there  are  all  the  same  colours 
with  a  Wall-flower  or  Sea-Green  leaf.    So  that 


344  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

there  are  eight  sorts  of  the  annual  Stock. — Of  the 
biennials,  there  are  the  Bromjiton,  of  which 
there  are  the  Scarlet,  and  the  White  ;  the  Dutch , 
which  is  Red  ;  the  Queen's,  of  which  there  are 
the  Red  and  the  White  ;  and  the  Twickenham, 
which  is  Purple. — As  to  propagation,  it  is,  of 
course,  by  seed  only.  If  there  be  nothing  but. 
the  natural  ground  to  rely  on,  the  sowing  must 
be  early  ;  the  earth  very  fine  and  very  rich. — 
The  seed  is  small  and  thin,  and  does  not  easily 
come  up  in  coarse  earth.  If  the  plants  come  up 
thick,  thin  them,  when  very  young.  And  do 
not  leave  them  nearer  together  than  six  inches. 
They,  however,  transplant  very  well ;  and  tho  se 
that  have  not  place  to  blow  in  may  be  removed, 
and  a  succession  of  bloom  is  thus  secured.  If 
you  have  a  green -house,  glass  frame,  or  hand- 
glass, you  get  flowers  six  weeks  earlier. — The 
biennials  are  sown  at  the  same  time,  and  treated 
in  the  same  way.  They  blow  the  second  year  ; 
but,  if  there  be  great  difficulty  in  preserving 
the oi,  in  the  natural  ground,  through  the  winter 
in  England,  what  must  it  be  here  I  Indeed,  it 
cannot  be  done ;  and  yet,  they  are  so  fine  ;  so 
lofty  ;  such  masses  of  beautiful  and  fragrant 
flowers ;  and  they  continue  so  long  in  bloom,  that, 
they  are  worth  any  care  and  any  trouble.  There 
is  but  one  way  ;  the  plants,  when  they  get  ten 
or  a  dozen  leaves,  must  be  put  into  flower-pots. 
These  may  be  sunk  in  the  earth,  in  the  open 
ground,  till  November  (Long  Island,)  and  when 
the  sharp  frosts  come,  the  pots  must  be  ta- 
ken up,  and  placed  out  of  the  reach  of  hard 
frost,  and  where  there  is,  however,  sun  and  air. 
When  the  spring  comes,  the  pots  may  be  put 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  245 

out  into  the  natural  ground  again ;  or,  which  is 
better,  the  balls  of  earth  may  be  put  into  a  hole 
made  for  the  purpose ;  and  thus  the  plants  will  be 
in  the  natural  ground  to  blow.  In  this  country 
they  should  be  placed  in  the  shade  when  put  out 
again  ;  for  a  very  hot  sun  is  apt  to  tarnish  the 
bloom. 

386.  SYRINGA,  or  Mock-orange — A  very 
stout  shrub,  with  blossoms  much  like  that  of  the 
orange,  and  with  a  powerful  smell.  It  is  propa- 
gated from  suckers,  of  which  it  sends  out  a  great 
many. 

337.  SWEET  WILLIAM.— A  very  pretty 
flower.  Makes  a  fine  show.  Comes  Double  by- 
chance  ;  and  is  very  handsome  whether  double 
or  single.  It  is  propagated  from  seed,  the  plants 
coming  from  which  do  not  blow  till  the  second 
year.  The  Sweet  William  root  does  not  last 
many  years.  It  may  be  propagated  by  parting 
the  roots  ;  and  this  must  be  done  to  have  the 
same  Jiower  again  to  a  certain/.*  y  because  the 
seed  do  not,  except  by  chance,  produce  flowers 
like  those  of  the  mother  plant. 

388.  TUBEROSE.— This  is  a  bulbous-root- 
ed plant  that  sends  up  a  beautiful  and  most  fra- 
grant flower.  But,  even  in  England,  it  cannot 
be  brought  to  perfection  without  artificial  heat  in 
the  spring.  If  got  forward  in  a  green-house,  or 
hot-bed,  and  put  out  about  the  middle  of  June,  it 
would  blow  beautifully  in  America.  It  is  a  na- 
tive of  Italy,  and  the  roots  are  brought  to  Eng- 
land and  sold  there  in  the  shops.  It  is  propaga- 
ted and  managed  precisely  like  the  Hyacinth, 
which  see. 

21* 


246  AMERICAN  GARDENER. 

389.  TULIP.— Beds  of  Tulips  vie  with  those 
of  Carnations  and  Auriculas.  They  are  made 
shows  of  in  England,  and  a  single  roots  is  some- 
times sold  for  two  or  three  hundred  guineas. — 
And,  why  not ;  as  well  as  make  shows  of  fiic 
tures,  and  sell  them  for  large  sums  ?  There  is 
an  endless  variety  in  the  colours  of  the  tulip.— 
The  bulbs,  to  have  the  flowers  fine,  must  be 
treated  like  those  of  the  Hyacinth.  The  tulip 
may  je  raised  from  seed  ;  but  it  is,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Hyacinth,  a  thousand  to  one  against  get- 
ting from  seed  a  flower  like  that  of  the  mother 
plant. 

390.  VIOLET.— This  is  one  of  the  four  fa- 
vourites of  the  Spring  in  England.  It  is  a  little 
creeping  plant,  that  comes  on  banks  under  the 
shelter  of  warm  hedges.  The  flower  is  so  well 
known  to  excel!  in  sweetness,  that,  "  as  sweet  as 
a  violet"  is  a  phrase  as  common  as  any  in  the 
English  language.  There  is  a  fiur/ile  and  a 
white.  Abundance  of  seed  is  borne  annually  by 
both  ;  and  the  plant  is  perennial.  If  you  propa- 
gate from  seed,  the  flower  does  not  come  till  the 
second  year  ;  but,  one  plant,  taken  from  an  old 
root,  will  fill  a  rod  of  ground  in  a  few  years. — 
There  is  a  little  plant  in  these  woods  in  Long 
Island,  with  a  flower  precisely  like  that  of  the 
purple  violet  ;  but,  the  leaf  is  a  narrow  oblong, 
instead  of  being  as  the  English  is,  in  the  shape 
of  a  heart ;  the  plant  does  not  creep ;  and  the 
flower  has  no  smell. 

391.  WALL-FLOWER.— It  is  so  called,  be- 
cause it  will  grow,  sow  itself,  and  furnish  bloom 
in  this  way,  by  a  succession  of  plants,  for  ever 
upon  old  walls,  where  it  makes  a  beautiful  show. 


AMERICAN  GARDENER.  24? 

It  bears  abundance  of  seed,  plants  from  which 
produce  flowers  the  second  year.  Some  come 
double,  sometimes.  If  you  wish  to  be  sure  of 
double  flowers,  you  must  propagate  by  slips  of 
double-flowering  plants.  There  are  the  yellow 
and  the  mixed,  partly  yellow  and  partly  red. — 
All  have  a  delightful  smell,  blow  early,  and  are 
generally  great  favourites.  I  am  afraid  this 
plant,  even  with  covering,  will  not  stand  the 
winter  eut  of  doors  in  America,  unless  in  the 
south  front  of  a  building,  and  covered  too  in  se- 
vere weather;  for,  even  in  England,  it  is  some- 
times killed  bv  the  frosts, 


asriBssi 


TO  VEGETABLES  AND  HERBS,  FRUITS  AND 
FLOWERS. 


Vegetables  and  Herbs. 

Paragraph                             Paragraph 

Artichoke, 

192  Garhck,       -        .         222 

Asparagus,  - 

193  Gourd,     -        -        -    223 

Balm,      - 

194  Hop,     ...         224 

Basil,     ... 

195  Horse-radish,  ,         -    225 

Bean, 

196  Hyssop,       -        -         226 

Bean,  (Kidney)    - 

197  Jerusalem  Artichoke,  227 

Beet,     -      -      -      - 

198  Lavender,        -        -    228 

Brocoli,     -     - 

199  Leek,          -        -          229 

Burnet,       - 

200  Lettuce,       -        -        230 

Cabbage, 

201  Mangel-Wurzel,       *.    231 

Calahash,     -      - 

202  Marjoram,     -        -        232 

Cale,       -         -      - 

203  Marigold,         -        -     233 

Cale,  (Sea) 

204  Melon,          -        -        234 

Camomile,    - 

205  Mint,          -       -         -    235 

Capsicum, 

206  Mustard,       -         -        236 

Caraway 

207  Nasturtium,     -        -    237 

Canot, 

208  Onion,           -         -        238 

Cauliflower,     - 

209  Parsley,     -      -        -    239 

Celery, 

210  Parsnip,       -        -        240 

Chervil, 

211  Pea,          -        -         -    241 

Cives, 

212  Pennyroyal,          -        242 

Coriander, 

213  Pepper— see  Gapsicum. 

Corn, 

214  Pepper-grass— see  Cress. 

Corn-Sallad,    - 

215  Potatoe        -        -        245 

Cress,  (Pepper  Grass)  216  Potatoe,  (Sweet)    «•    246 

Cucumber, 

217  Pumpkin,         -        -    247 

"Dandelion,   - 

218  Purslane,     -        -         248 

Dock,     - 

219  Radish,                      -    249 

Endive, 

220  Rampion,     -        -        250 

Penned   -        * 

221  Rape,       -       -        -    251 

INDEX. 

249 

Paragraph^                             Paragraph 

Rhubarb, 

252  Skirret,     - 

-    263 

Rosemary, 

-    253  Sorel,     - 

264 

Rue,     - 

254  Spinage, 

-    265 

Rutabaga — see 

Turnip.        Squash, 

266 

Sage, 

-     256  Tansy, 

-     267 

Salsafy, 

257  Tarragon, 

26» 

Samphire, 

-    258  Thyme,    . 

-     269 

Savory, 

259  Tomatum,     - 

270 

Savoy,     - 

-     260  Turnip,    . 

-    271 

Scorzenera,    - 

261  Wormwood,     - 

-    273 

Shalot, 

262 
Fruits. 

Apple, 

300  Medlar, 

313 

Apricot, 

-    301  Melon,     - 

-     314 

Barberry,     - 

302  Mulberry,     - 

315 

Cherry,    - 

-    303  Nectarine, 

-    316 

Chesuut, 

304  Nut,      - 

317 

Cranbeny, 

-    305  Peach,      - 

-    318 

Currant* 

306  Pear,    - 

319 

Fig", 

-     307  Plums,     - 

-    320 

Filberd, 

308  Quince, 

321 

Gooseberry, 

-    309  Rasberry, 

-    322 

Grape,     - 

310  Strawberry, 

k  323 

Huckleberry, 

-    311  Vine — see  Grape. 

Madeira  Nut — see  Walnut.  Walnut,     - 

-    325 

Flowers. 

Althea  Frutex, 

-     -    333  Carnation, 

342 

Anemone, 

-     334  Catalpa,     - 

-     343 

Arbutus,     - 

335  Clove,     - 

-     344 

Astre,  (Cliina) 

336  Columbine, 

345 

Auricula, 

337  Cowslip, 

-    346 

Azalia, 

338  Crocus, 

347 

Balsam,     - 

-    339  Daisy,      - 

-    348 

Briar  (sweet) 

340  Geranium,    - 

349 

Camilla,     - 

-     341  Gi i elder-Rose,    - 

-     350 

250  INDEX. 

Paragraph  Paragraph 

Hawthorn,  -        -         351  Kill-calf,        -         -  361 

Heart's-ease,  (Pansey)  352  Labevenham,      -  362 

Heath,        -        -      -    353  Larkspur,         -        -  363 

Hollyhock,     -      -        354  Lilac,         -           -  364 

Hollyhock,  (Chinese)  355  Lilley  of  the  Valley,  365 

Honeysuckle,      -     -    356  Locust,     -        -        -  366 

Hyacinth,        -        -    357  Lupin,          -        -  367 

Jasmin,       -        -           358  Magnolia,        -          -  368 

Jonquil,          -       -       359  Mignonette,  -         -  369 

Kalmia,      -        -          360  Meaning-Star,     -      -  370 


INDEX 

TO  THE  GENERAL  MATTER, 


[The  figures  refer  to  Paragraphs,  and  not  to  Pages.] 

Paragraph 
Addison  ....  -        121 

Boxes,  earthen-ware  preferable  to,  for  plants    -    109 


Bacon,  Lord            - 

121 

Cultivation,  in  general 

126,  176 

as  relates  to  Fruits 

..     291 

Curwen,  Mr.  John  Christian 

183 

Cowley            - 

121 

Drilling,  mode  of 

162,  \63 

Diseases  of  Trees            - 

-     298 

Dryden             - 

348 

Fencing            - 

30 

for  shade  and  shelter 

-    33,48 

expense  of 

47,  50,  51 

seed  for,  how  to  procure 

.  55 

INDEX.  251 

Paragraph 
Fencing,  Quick-set,  described  -  -  39 

Garden,  its  praises,  the  produce  and  pleasures 

derived  from  -  2,  3,  121 

Green-houses  ....  97 

the  usefulness  of        -        100, 117, 118,  121 

Gerrard,  Mr.  Stephen  -  -  -  308 

Hot-beds  -  -  -  .63 

frames  for  common  in  America  -       71 

hand-glasses  useful  -  -  94 

Herbs,  preserving  and  forcing  of  them  -        117 

Hampton  Court,  vine  at  -  -  .310 

flowers  at  -  -  -        331 

Hulme,  Mr.  310 

Laying-out  of  Gardens  -  .57 

Le  Gau,  Mr.     -  -         310 

Lucern,  depth  of  its  roots  -  -        -       193 

Loves  of  the  plants  -  -  .  141 

Manures  -  -  -  28,  29 

Missing,  Mr.  -  188 

Marshall,  Rev.  Mr.  -  145,   281,  282,  382 

M'Allister,  Mr.  ...  55 

Planting  283 

Propagation  in  general  .  -  -        125 

as  relates  to  fruits         '  -  -      273 

of  cuttings  -  -  -     276 

of  slips       -  -  277 

Propagation  of  layers  -  -  -         278 

suckers  .     -  -  279 

grafting      -  281 

stocks     -  282 

Paul,  Messrs.        -      -  -  -  282,  308 

Situation  for  a  garden  12 

Soil  .      16 

Sowing        ...  -        -     155 

and  planting  in  pots  -  110,114 

Seed,  sorts  of  -  12&' 


252 


INDEX, 


Seed,  when  true 

when  sound  - 

saving  and  preserving1  of 
table  of  Duration  of  - 

Sorts  of  plants,  errfor  respecting  changes 

Setting  of  fruit,  an  erroneous  notion 

Trenching  best  mode  of        - 

Transplanting     - 

Temple,  Sir  William     - 

Tull,  Mr.        - 

Hoots,  to  find  their  length  horizontally 

Walls,  not  necessary  for  fruit 

Watering*  of  plants,  not  recommended 

Women,  duly  appreciated  in  America     - 

Myrtle  - 

Narcissus  - 

Passion-flower  • 

Poeony      - 

Pea  (Sweet) 

Pink         -  -  -  - 

Polyanthus    -'*-,-- 

Poppy      - 

Primrose         - 

Ranunculus  -  -  - 

Rhododendron 

Roses        - 

Siberian  Crab      - 

Snow  Drop      - 

Stock       - 

Syringa  (Mock  Orange) 

Sweet  William         -  - 

Tuberose  .... 

Tulip       - 

Violet 

Wall-flower 


Paragraph 
129 

-  131 
135 

--  150 

of  -  188 

141  to  145 

20 

-  169 
122 

182  to  183 
184 

-  32 
187 

-  101 
371 

-  372 
373 

-  374 
375 

.  376 
377 

-  378 
379 

-  380 
381 

-  382 
383 
384 

-  385 
386 

-  387 
388 

-  389 
390 

-  391 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  IAST  DATE 


N?  802854 

Cobbett,  W* 

The  American 
gardener . 

SB93 
C575 
1823 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 

